Al Jaber Group is a privately owned enterprise located in Abu Dhabi. Started as a construction company in the 1970s, it soon became the largest business of such kind in the United Arab Emirates. Such success is attributed to the clever management and dedication displayed by its founder, Obaid Al Jaber, as well as the skill and passion of his daughter, Fatima Al Jaber.
Al Jaber Group was founded as a company that offered services of earth-moving and transportation. However, for Obaid Al Jaber it soon became apparent that the direction taken by the country offers great opportunities. Aside from the rapid development displayed by the government, which offered huge possibilities for a building contractor, the oncoming cultural and social trends were underway.
The former soon lead to the great demand on the market and by the year 2008 the company was responsible for building more than 5,000 kilometers of roads and a contribution to the construction of the Abu Dhabi International Airport (INSTEAD 3). More importantly, the latter became the reason for the selection of Obaid’s successors.
Once the decision was made to buy out the company from the partners, Al Jaber Group became a family business. Mohammed Al Jaber, Obaid’s son, was selected the next CEO while his daughter, Fatima, became a COO – a quite unusual move for any business in UAE, especially given Al Jaber Group’s magnitude at the time. Fatima, who was already an experienced and well-educated manager by that time, has proven to be an exceptionally skillful and competent leader while demonstrating respect to traditional family values and principles.
The case of Fatima Al Jaber is a story of leadership success, but, more importantly, a milestone in the social and cultural development of the country. She is an empowering role model for women and an early sign of the opportunities which await the UAE in the future.
- Fatima’s success is determined by several factors. The first, of course, is her education, which she obtained in one of the country’s first universities (Kemp, Madsen, and El-Saidi 101). The second is her diverse experience in the public sector – by the time she was appointed COO, she has already worked in several positions as a manager. Finally, the environment has doubtlessly played its role – she was brought up in a far less restrictive environment, which has led to a development of responsibility (Naguib and Jamali 136). The latter is still uncommon for a woman in UAE (Al-Jenaibi 238).
- Obaid Al Jaber’s role is currently of a mentor, which it is likely to remain in future. A family business can be easily weakened by inner tensions, so a uniting force is important to ensure integrity and a common vision (Spraggon, Bodolica, and Manoussifar 118). Thus, Obaid’s objective should be to secure the unity and respect.
- Fatima’s range of responsibilities will likely change in the future with the growth of the company. As Al Jaber Group diversifies and expands, she will likely have fewer opportunities to maintain close contact with employees, which currently serves as a basis of her strategies (Gundala and Khawaja 29). Such change of scope will likely be Fatima’s biggest challenge.
- I think Fatima could become CEO, as she is both competent and ambitious enough, which qualifies her for the job. It is hard to foresee all of the possible consequences of such move, but some can be outlined. For Fatima, this will create more responsibilities, as she will become an even more prominent role model. For the Al Jaber business, it can create an innovative image. Admittedly, this may have a double-sided effect: some of the conservative parties can find it threatening the established order, while more progressive ones will embrace and laud it.
Works Cited
Al-Jenaibi, Badreya. “The needs and priorities of women in the UAE: identifying struggles and enhancing satisfaction of employment, education, health care, and rights.” Contemporary Review of the Middle East 2.3 (2015): 238-268. Print.
Gundala, Raghava Rao, and Hanin Khawaja. “Brand management in small and medium enterprise: Evidence from Dubai, UAE.” Global journal of business research 8.1 (2014): 27-38. Print.
INSTEAD Group. Fatima Al Jaber and Al Jaber Group: Traditions and Transitions in aUnited Arab Emirates Family Enterprise. 2013. Web.
Kemp, Linzi, Susan Madsen, and Mohammed El-Saidi. “The current state of female leadership in the United Arab Emirates.” Journal of Global Responsibility 4.1 (2013): 99-112. Print.
Naguib, Rabia, and Dima Jamali. “Female entrepreneurship in the UAE: a multi-level integrative lens.” Gender in Management: An International Journal 30.2 (2015): 135-161. Print.
Spraggon, Martin, Virginia Bodolica, and Mona Manoussifar. “Succession management challenges: The case of a family business in the UAE.” Asian Journal of Management Cases 9.2 (2012): 115-126. Print.