KUTAYBA ALGHANIM

The Alghanim family business started in Kuwait in 1932, founded by Kutayba's father Yusuf. Kutayba studied at UC Berkeley, returned in 1970 and started a luxury furniture store before joining the family group.

From the 1970s he and his brother Bassam ran it together, and Kutayba brought in Western-style professional management. The group grew into automotive distribution (General Motors), electronics retail through X-cite, appliances, Wendy's restaurants, shipping and more.

By 2015 it employed about 14,000 people across roughly 40 countries, and it reported $2.5 billion in revenue back in 2009. His son Omar ran the company as CEO from 2005 to 2019.

Samir Kasem followed, and former General Motors executive Mahmoud Samara took over as CEO in January 2024. Kutayba remains chairman.

Alghanim Industries — chairman. The group, founded by his father in 1932, has 30-plus business units and more than 300 brands.

Automotive: distributes General Motors vehicles in Kuwait. Retail: X-cite by Alghanim, a major Kuwaiti electronics chain, plus appliance brands like Whirlpool and Electrolux.

Food: Wendy's franchises in the Middle East. Also shipping, logistics and contracting.

The family also holds a stake in Gulf Bank, one of Kuwait's major commercial banks.

Kutayba is an operator, not a portfolio investor. The Alghanim model is to win distribution rights for global brands in the Gulf, then build the retail, service and logistics around them.

Cars, appliances, electronics and restaurants all follow the same playbook: bring in a trusted international brand and become its local partner.

Turning a family trading house into a professionally run conglomerate. Kutayba pushed Western management into a business that had been run informally, and the group ended up representing more than 300 global brands, from GM cars to Whirlpool appliances to Wendy's.

Keeping Alghanim Industries whole under his side of the family after the 2008 split was the other win.

The family feud. When Kutayba's son Omar took a bigger role, Kutayba and his brother Bassam fell out and split their shared fortune in 2008.

It did not stay private. The brothers fought in US courts, UK courts and arbitration for years, and a UK judge found in 2011 that investigators had hacked Bassam's personal email, with Bassam alleging they acted for Kutayba's side.

For a family that valued discretion, it was the worst possible kind of publicity.

Build around trusted brands, professionalize the family business, and keep ownership in the family. The group stopped publishing financial results after 2009, which tells you how much it values privacy.

Born in Kuwait on 7 January 1944, the son of Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim, who founded the family business in 1932. He ran the empire jointly with his brother Bassam from the 1970s.

After his eldest son Omar became more involved, the brothers fell out in 2007 and agreed to divide their shared assets in 2008. The fight spread to courts in the US and UK and to arbitration.

Bassam accused Kutayba's side of paying private investigators to hack his email, and in 2011 a UK judge found two investigators liable. Kutayba has three children.

Omar Alghanim was CEO of Alghanim Industries from 2005 to 2019 and has chaired Gulf Bank.

Graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970. He came home to Kuwait the same year and opened a luxury furniture store before moving into the family group.