AlThekair General Trading & Contracting Company

Kuwaiti entrepreneurs find success in new frontiers

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AlThekair General Trading & Contracting Company was established in 1984 and led from its earliest days by its chairman, Hamad Al-Thekair, towards success and growth through a pioneering journey of business acquisitions across multiple industries.

With an openness to new business frontiers, the company’s upward development was shaped by continuously tackling new industries, which transformed it over time into a diversified market player.

As a business strategy, the company mastered the process of approaching new industries, acquiring new businesses and making them more profitable. By doing so, it has served as a model to entice other private entities into more contribution to fulfill the development vision of Kuwait and advance the industry.

Step Ahead

Diversified portfolio

E-portal Holding has kept an open mind along its business journey, evolving into a diversified group of businesses. It ventured from Information and Communication Technology to finance, automotive and real estate, while maintaining an analytical approach to problem solving. This transition has helped the company develop a deeper understanding of the processes across these industries, maximize its growth opportunities and build an enhanced vision of the next step ahead.

“Kuwaiti businesspeople are resourceful, with great willingness to improvise, strong determination to succeed and openness to new frontiers,”
Al-Thekair said.

Information and Communications Technology

The company first entered the market as an early player in Kuwait’s Information and Communications Technology sector, operating through its e-Portal Holding entity.
Targeting this sector came as part of the contribution in the digital transformation and the expedition of the development and innovation of the country. A few years later, the business has grown considerably and evolved into one of the leading ICT companies in the region.
In April 2022, the ICT company was acquired by the Kuwaiti telecommunications giant STC. The sale of e-Portal Holding has accelerated the business expansion and led into a more diverse portfolio, gearing up the founding company to further expand its horizons.

Automotive

After a powerful start in the ICT sector, the company shifted into the automotive industry in 2004 and obtained the distribution rights for KIA Motors in Iraq, a market known for unique characteristics that make it highly strategic in the region. However, entering the Iraqi market was not an easy task; it demanded a great amount of persistence given the serious political instability and challenges. Today, the company maintains a key hold through its distributorship and ranks as number one car dealership in the country.

Finance and investment

To bolster its various diversification efforts, the company moved next into the asset management market and brokerage services with two major acquisitions: Al Madar, a leading investment Kuwaiti company, in 2017; and Kuwait & Middle East Financial Investment Company (KMEFIC), an asset management company, in 2019. After achieving a significant turnaround in both companies’ leverage and profitability through strategic capital restructuring, Al-Thekair Company became the majority shareholder of both.

Real estate

AlThekair holding company has recently taken on the real estate development sector in Kuwait by outlining a new construction project inspired by the ocean. The project is designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the top architecture firm in the United States that designed the iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai, renowned for being the tallest building in the world.

What’s next

We believe that diversification and entering new markets are the utmost way to broaden our reach and boost the bottom line of the business. Our next venture will be driven by our openness for new opportunities.

We constantly pinpoint a need in the market and identify shifts in consumer behavior. This strategy will provide the right tools to tackle new sectors that will help us create and implement new ideas and innovations.

We also greatly acknowledge the importance of making more strategic partnerships between the private entities and the government to form a collaborative model capable of overcoming the challenges and achieving our goals.