THE Al Habtoor Group have marked 35 years of operating in the UAE last month, at a gala dinner at the Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa in Dubai.
Having started out with a small engineering company in 1970, Khalaf Al Habtoor, chairman and founder of the group, has since turned his dream into 35 years of innovation. “The best way to predict the future is to create it,” he says.
“Just as the UAE has become synonymous with trade and enterprise all over the world, the Al Habtoor Group, with its dynamic business culture, has become a truly international company that is able to trade successfully anywhere on the planet,” he says.
In the last few years, the Al Habtoor Group has invested billions of dollars in developing new projects that continue to grow. Today, the group’s companies employ a workforce of 22,397 people, drawn from over 45 different countries, from 5,577 in 1995.
Over the same period, the group mirrored the growth of both Dubai and the UAE, registering a massive 284 per cent increase in revenue with a net profit that escalated by 737 per cent.
Khalaf al Habtoor is deeply committed to education and development and so as long ago as 1991 began operating schools offering an approved international curriculum to students from more than 80 countries.
Says Al Habtoor, “Our intention is to become a truly international company that is able to do business successfully anywhere on the planet.”