North African businesses and conglomerates – primarily owned by Egyptians and Moroccans – shined brightly in Forbes’ list of the top 100 Arab family businesses this year.
The family businesses of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour and Moroccan businessman Othman Benjelloun emerged as leaders in this year’s ranking, which covers the Middle East and North Africa.
Aside from Mansour’s Mansour Group and Benjelloun’s O Capital Group, which were ranked second and twenty-ninth on the list, respectively, Algerian billionaire Issad Rebrab’s conglomerate Cevital and Egyptian businessman Hassan Allam’s group also made the list.
Other North African family businesses on the list included the Khamis family-led Orientals Group, Hany Mahmoud’s MM Group, Hany and Khaled El Assal’s Misr Italia Holding, and Mohamed Hassan Bensalah’s Holmarcom Group.
According to Forbes, 89 percent of this year’s top 100 family businesses are diversified business conglomerates, with Saudi companies dominating the list with 37 companies, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 25 companies, and then Kuwait with eight companies.
Forbes revealed that Arab family businesses have recently experienced a V-shaped recovery as they continue to evolve through strategic investments in their traditional businesses and new industries – including in startups.
According to Forbes, Mansour Group, which employs more than 60,000 people, reported revenues of $7.5 billion in 2021, and maintains investments in leading tech companies such as Spotify, Uber, Airbnb, Meta, and Twitter through ManCapital, the group’s investment arm.
O Capital Group reported revenues in excess of $2.5 billion in 2021 and is investing $500 million to build one of Africa’s tallest buildings in Rabat, Morocco.
