Billionaires in the Middle East have one of the highest rates of family involvement, 62%, in the whole world. Only India has a higher rate of family involvement. For purposes of our study, we measured only the billionaires in Kuwait, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia: 21 billionaires in total. The Kuwaiti billionaires are the two Alghanim brothers and the three Al-Kharafi brothers. The Lebanese billionaires are the four Hariri brothers, sons of the assassinated Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the two Mikati brothers. Saudi Arabia has the largest number of billionaires in the region, including brothers Mohamed, Abdullah and Sulaiman Bin Issa Al Jaber. The Emirati billionaires are Abdul Aziz and his uncle Saif Al Ghurair, and brothers Majid and Abdulla Al Futtaim. In the Middle East, as well as in India, families run fortunes together mainly for cultural reasons rather than economic history or other reasons. There may be some connection to corruption and politics in the region, which has great income disparity, but the impulse to run a business with one’s family is natural to an Arab. The families are all close-knit, and divorce is rare.
This is not to say that there are no family conflicts; the Emirati Al Futtaim brothers are estranged, and the Alghanim brothers are embroiled in a fight over their father’s inheritance. All the Middle Eastern billionaires are male, reflecting the male-dominated society, and few of the family members involved in the business are female. Most of the fortunes are inherited by older male relatives: only 38% of fortunes are self-made. Only Germany has a lower rate of self-made billionaires. The richest man in the Middle East, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, nephew of King Abdullah, is classified as self-made for his fortune in investments. He does not have family in his business, but his wife Ameerah Al-Taweel is an influential figure and an advocate of Saudi women’s rights. In a rare interview with Forbes reporter Jenna Goudreau last year, the princess outlined her support for women’s right to drive. Despite the political and social upheaval in the region since last year’s Arab Spring, the number and nature of the billionaires in the region seem to be relatively unchanged. There are three more Kuwaiti billionaires than in 2011 and the same billionaires in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In 2011 one of the three billionaires in Kuwait was Nasser Al-Kharafi and family. When Nasser passed away in April, his brothers Fawzi, Jassim and Mohannad took over the business and are now counted individually as billionaires. The family business, the MAK Group, is one of the Middle East’s largest holding companies. The brothers had inherited the company from their father Mohammed.