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Oman Established Merchant Families
Among the most important groups, in terms of political
influence, are a number of merchant families whose
economic
wealth is predicated on the old, established links with
the
ruling family. These are members of families who settled
in
Muscat and the coastal region and include both Hindus and
Muslims
from the Indian subcontinent and Shia from Iran. These
families
consolidated their power during the reign of Sultan Said
ibn
Taimur and continued to amass fortunes after 1970, largely
through monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic franchises.
None is
directly involved in the oil business, but together they
are the
principal suppliers of goods to the government, local
contractors, foreign firms, local consumers, and the oil
industry. Valuable distributorships for consumer and
capital
services are under their aegis.
Close cooperation between the merchants and Sultan Said
ibn
Taimur evolved into a mutually protective relationship
with civil
servants in the Qabus ibn Said government. Included in
this group
are the Zawawis, whose roots are in Saudi Arabia. Qais ibn
Abd al
Munim az Zawawi, for example, as of 1991 served as deputy
prime
minister for economic and financial affairs. Apart from
his
ministerial position, Qais ibn Abd al Munim is a prominent
Muscat
businessman. He was educated in India, has no hereditary
relationship with the ruling family, and is well connected
in the
Arab world. His brother, Omar ibn Abd al Munim az Zawawi,
a
Harvard-educated physician, is considered the second
wealthiest
man in Oman next to the sultan. Apart from being president
of
Omar Zawawi Establishment (the Omzest Group), which
comprises
about seventy companies and joint ventures, he is special
adviser
for external liaison to the sultan. The Omzest Group
represents
multinational companies, such as Daimler-Benz and Mitsui
Engineering and Shipping Company, which is contracted to
build
the oil refinery near Muscat.
Another example of a merchant family drawn into the
ministerial level is Said Ahmad ash Shanfari, the minister
of
petroleum and minerals, whose family origins are Dhofari
and who
has held the portfolio since 1974. The Shanfari family is
related
to Qabus ibn Said's mother and controls Shanfari and
Partners, a
contracting company involved in building infrastructure.
Its bid
was selected from among six contractors to build the new
industrial estate at Raysut.
Khimji Ramdas, who heads the Khimji Ramdas Group, which
holds
international franchises ranging from consumer products
and soft
drinks to insurance and construction, is also in this
circle.
Yahya Muhammad Nasib, chairman of Yahya Enterprises,
provides
defense and communications equipment to the Ministry of
Defense
and other ministries. Other influential families include
those of
Muhsin Haidar Darwish and Suhail Bahwan, chairman of the
Bahwan
Group, Muscat.
Data as of January 1993
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