UAE's Family Business Registry Records First Indian Firm Under New Governance Law

DUBAI: Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 on Family Businesses now has its first Indian registrant. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism has formally enrolled Sell Force International in the UAE’s Unified Family Business Registry, a regulatory milestone the ministry frames as evidence of the country’s growing appeal to multigenerational enterprises seeking legal protection and structured governance frameworks.

Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, presented the registration certificate to Dr Mustafa Saasa, Chairman and Managing Director of the Raj Group of Companies, the Dubai-based parent entity of Sell Force International. The minister characterized the enrollment as proof of deepening confidence in the UAE’s institutional framework and legal flexibility, emphasizing that the registry provides an integrated legal structure supporting long-term sustainability, stronger governance practices, and orderly succession planning across generations.

The policy stakes are considerable. Family businesses account for approximately 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, employ roughly 80 percent of the workforce, and represent nearly 90 percent of private-sector companies, according to Bin Touq’s statement. Those figures make the governance and continuity of family-controlled enterprises a matter of direct national economic interest, not merely a private concern.

The Unified Family Business Registry, established through the 2022 decree-law, functions as a formal institutional mechanism for recognizing and protecting family-controlled businesses. Registration confers formal acknowledgment of a company’s family business status and access to the protections embedded in the decree-law, including legal certainty around succession arrangements and governance structures. By enrolling under the framework, companies signal a commitment to the kind of formalized oversight the UAE government has designed the registry to encourage.

Sell Force International itself is a diversified holding spanning construction materials, sustainability solutions, real estate, human capital, industrial products, cosmetics, and business services. The company traces its origins to Sassa Trading, established in Dubai in 1958, and now maintains operations across the Middle East, Africa, and India. Dr Saasa described the registration as recognition of the UAE’s supportive institutional environment for family business growth and continuity.

Meanwhile, the broader regulatory environment has been consolidating around this sector for some time. According to Forbes Middle East’s 2026 ranking of the Arab world’s 100 most powerful family businesses, the UAE is home to 31 companies on the list, including four of the top 10. That concentration reflects both the historical depth of established family enterprises in the emirate and the formal framework now in place to attract new registrations from beyond the region.

The significance of Sell Force International’s enrollment extends past the company itself. South Asia carries deep traditions of family business ownership and management, and the registration of an Indian family-owned company as the registry’s first such entrant suggests the decree-law framework holds appeal for enterprises operating across multiple geographies and seeking a stable legal jurisdiction for formal recognition. Whether other South Asian family enterprises follow will test how effectively the UAE’s institutional design translates regulatory intent into cross-border uptake.