About
Our Research Project
We believe that historical understanding is key for strategic vision, and we see in the exploration of family businesses a unique opportunity to study the challenges overcome by business entrepreneurs and leaders in an effort to inspire the future.
This research initiative is the first and most ground-breaking project mapping family business legacies in the MENASA region. It features a globally unique approach to understanding the multi-faceted impact of family-owned businesses in the regional economy, society and culture and seeks while preserving the history of individual entrepreneurs and collective business activities
This understanding will not only offer significant insights into historical transformations of business cultures and socio-economic environments in the GCC as well as the MENASA region but also support family businesses address current and future challenges.
Our Team
Farida El-Agamy
General Manager
Tharawat Family Business Forum
Lic.iur., University of Fribourg, Attorney-at-Law, High Court of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland
Vice Provost
Associate Professor of History
New York University Abu Dhabi
MA, PhD, University of Heidelberg
Manager Strategy and Innovation
Tharawat Family Business Forum
MLaw, University of Fribourg, Attorney-at-Law, High Court of the Canton of Bern, Switzerland
Israa Mahgoub
Research Associate
New York University Abu Dhabi
MA, Sorbonne Universities
Roddilou Rasonabe
Program Coordinator
Tharawat Family Business Forum
Balaqis Al-Senani
Research Assistant
New York University Abu Dhabi
The Tharawat Family Business Forum is an independent, non-for-profit membership association dedicated to the sustainability, innovation, and growth of MENA family businesses. The association was founded 2006 by 15 leading family-owned companies from all over the Middle East who had a vision for a strong peer community where families could share their experiences and learn from each other. Today, more than a decade later, Tharawat has grown into a key platform for education and opportunity for its community.
New York University Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly-selective liberal arts, engineering and science curriculum with a world center for advanced research and scholarship enabling its students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges.