Why The United Arab Emirate Family Offices Are In The Perfect Position To Take On Global Challenges

"The delicate state of the world we live in affects every single one of us, but the choices we make about consumption can change this. Embed social and environmental values in your organization. "

These are the words of Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, The UAE's Chief Executive Officer, Alliances for Global Sustainability

A Large percentage of the Arab world being under the age of 30, it's crucial for the UAE and other Gulf countries to focus on being future facing. The focus on giving back has been something that has been part of the culture ever since the days of Sheikh Zayed, who is seen as the Father of the nation.

Embracing Innovation

The second quality that the UAE has going for it is that it is very pro-open-innovation. It actively invites innovators from around the world to help them continuously improve.

" Build a community of people, create the right context where people can share their ideas. "

Co-creation is a significant driver of success when it comes to innovation. And this is not a new concept in the UAE which has actively opened up their government and created entire departments to drive data-driven and open innovation. The government also enters into dialogue with the leading innovators around the world to ensure they incorporate real world-class thinking and solutions that address real-world problems.

Families Can Help Move This Forward.

While governments might be on board with tackling these challenges head-on, they cannot do it alone and ensure long-term results. Business & families would do well to help lessen the load by getting involved.

"Most families here used to be traders, and that mentality of just buying and selling goods can be prohibitive to the development of the economy in the long term. I think it's a fantastic opportunity for these family offices to take that trader mentality and start betting or hedging more on future innovation that has the potential to be disruptive."

Even though the UAE government is very progressive, they cannot operate on every level and rely on a healthy business ecosystem.

The role of government should not be so focused on startups from an investment perspective, as much as family offices should. This way family offices can diversify away from traditional trading.

Families need to work harder to attract the top talent, partners and investment opportunities. Initiatives like myself does, making it easier for families to identify and get involved with the funding of solutions that have already been vetted for their potential to have a real impact.

There are plenty of global startups that are making a real impact that families could get involved in.Global challenges should be looking for a global solution that may require collaboration between private individuals, businesses and governments.

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