Family Business of Mubadala
AGES family business framework of Mubadala Company
Because I took the Global Family Business Leadership course at Northeastern University with Professor Collier, I had the opportunity to visit UAE, meet with incredible business executive officers, and discuss about their family business operations. I discovered one specific company with a clear and efficient family business framework, which develops business leaders who create extraordinary values for UAE.
Mubadala Investment Company is a sovereign-owned firm with fore-sighting vision expertise to promote UAE economic growth.
Architecture
Structure: The chairman and the viceman are brothers, and all of the rest members on board of directors are non-family members. We met Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the appointed CEO from board of directors, and he also became the managing director of Mubadala. Besides his role in Mubadala, he is also the Executive of Affairs Authority at ECAD. Each member on board has his proficiency in environment, banking, investing, and petrochemicals. These seven board of directors revise and approve for major decisions.
Strategy: Mubadala has 11 business sectors for worldwide diverse investments. They are divided into Aerospace, Capital Investments, Defense Services, Healthcare, Information & Communication Technology, Metals & Mining, Midstream, Real Estate & Infrastructure, Refining & Petrochemicals, Renewables, Semiconductors, Upstream and Integrates, and Utilities.
System: There is also an investment committee with ten non-family officers, who are mandated by board of directors and responsible for developing and monitoring Mubadala’s investments. It is comprised by the CEO, CFO, CLO, and CHCCO, and there are four platform CEOs, who are accounted for four investment platforms in petroleum, aerospace, alternative investment, and technology. Each dominant investment will go through the process of review, analyze, and approve by the CEOs. The ordered structure of Mubadala allows each executive role to understand his obligation and helps the future financial and operational performance of Mubadala.
Governance
Mohammed and Mansour manage both the family and business resources in success. They participate in providing strategic guidance for investment committee members when major decisions and approaches of Mubadala are struggling or conflicting with others issues. Mohammed and his brother design the visible process of decision making which causes less confusion and establishes a family style business model on Mubadala.
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the chairman of Mubadala, is the third son of UAE’s first president and also the chairman of Executive Council of Abu Dhabi(ECAD), which is devoted to improve Abu Dhabi’s development.
The vice-chairman of Mubadala, Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman’s brother and also the current president of UAE’s half brother.
Entrepreneurship
Khaldoon said that he wants the Abu Dhabi to become a top popular tourism place, so people around the world can see the beauty of Abu Dhabi.
As we meet Khaldoon, CEO of Mubadala, he was determined to develop Abu Dhabi into a further fascinating place with economic growth and increase the quality of local living standards. He started in 2002 as a small team for multinational initiative of Mubadala, and now he has achieved the success of a global group company. This rapid expansion demonstrates the potential of this company, and its maturity and stability of today due to the contribution of the founder brothers and Khaldoon. According to the diagram below, Mubadala is financially growing, and its dedication for Abu Dhabi is not neglected.
Stewardship
Mohammed and Mansour increase their family reputation when they start the international investments with other countries. They also expand their family wealth by receiving partial share occupation in some well-managed companies. When they are connecting with the global, they are also improving efficiency of Abu Dhabi’s growth for their local residents. Maintaining their family renown, Mohammed and Mansour do not want to benefit for their own but to be the custodian for their future generation.
