The history of this group began in 1930 as a small trading enterprise. From 1950 the company acquired its modern features and began to expand the scope of activities. For example, in 1955 Al-Futtaim Motors was established — the exclusive dealer of Toyota in the UAE. Gradually, the company started to opeate in other areas, such as electronics, insurance, media, real estate, retail and more. Today Al-Futtaim Group has also become the exclusive distributor of many famous brands, like Alcatel, Chrysler, Honda, IBM, IKEA, Panasonic, Toshiba, Volvo, etc.
Originally, Al Futtaim Group was operated by Abdulla Al Futtaim and his cousin Majid Al Futtaim. But in 2000 the Al-Futtaim family decided to split its business. Now Abdulla Al Futtaim work mainly with automotive and financial services, and Majid Al Futtaim became the owner of the Majid Al Futtaim Group (MAF), that deals with the real estate and retail.
The MAF was founded in 1992 and now operates many hypermarkets, hotels and malls in UAE and Egypt. Among the properties owned and managed by MAF are Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Deira and City Centre Mirdif.
Today Al-Futtaim Group is constantly expanding. The interests of the company are no longer limited by the UAE. For instance, in 2008 Al-Futtaim Group bought 88% of the shares of Singapore retail company Robinsons & Co. And in 2013 full control of car retailer CMC Holdings from Nairobi, Kenya was taken.
Al-Futtaim Group and MAF currently employs tens of thousands people. Both employers are trusted and well-respected among UAE residents, being desirable places to work at. Both companies are a significant part of the UAE economy and have international value.
The United Arab Emirates is the world's strategically located business hub, with business-friendly free zones, developed IT sector and the second-largest economy in the Arab world. Numerous ventures from various industries emerge here every year, enjoying good economical climate, developed ecosystem, low taxes, and many other advantages of UAE. During its continuous growth, UAE's economy helped many local companies to grow with it, becoming globally-recognized brands. On Comingsoon.ae, we created a list of these brands, with our short reviews about their success stories.
