Ghassan Nuqul on Family-Run Businesses

Vice Chairman of the Nuqul Group, Ghassan Nuqul, nbsp;closed his lecture on transforming a family-managed business into a professionally-run conglomerate through incorporatingnbsp; governance principles nbsp;by saying that “nothing is impossible in the presence of strong will and good management.”

The lecture, held in Kamal Nasser Hall at Birzeit University, is one of the “Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurs” series which provides a space for entrepreneurs from different companies and professions to share their life experiences, success and philosophy.
Nuqul talked about the need to transform a family-run business into an institutional framework. “A family-run business is first and foremost a collection of family and social relationships rather than business relationships, and that’s why it’s important to manage these relationships in the framework of corporate governance,” he stated. He also affirmed that corporate governance requires businesses to separate ownership from management to ensure the effective management of those businesses, and that it secures a smooth transmission of these companies to the generations that follow the founding fathers, especially since only thirty percent of these family-run businesses carry on to the second generation, and only three percent to the fourth generation.
In his briefing on the history of the business, Nuqul stated that it was established in 1952 by his father, Elia Nuqul, who was born in Al-Ramla and was a creative thinker in school. Prevailing financial and political conditions prevented him from finishing his undergraduate studies. He had to work as an accountant before starting his own business in 1952. Despite several setbacks, he was able to achieve great success through determination and good management. He founded the company that is the number one sanitary paper company in the Arab world. Nowadays, the Nuqul Group is an industry leader in several sectors, bringing together 27 regional and global companies. It employs over 5,500 people across the Arab World and North America.