Educated at Oxford University, Omar co-chaired the Group from 2006 to 2017 and became the sole chair upon the passing of its founder Abdel Mohsen Al-Qattan. Omar’s career has included many years in the film and television industry, and wide-ranging philanthropic interests across the region, with a particular interest in institution-building in the fields of education and culture.
As a co-founding chair of two major institutions, including the family charity AM Qattan Foundation, he brings thirty years of experience in institutional governance, strategy, leadership, and financial management.
Al-Hani’s story is that of modern Kuwait. Founded in 1963, it has grown in tandem with the small but ambitious country, playing a leading role in the realisation of some its most prestigious projects and major landmark public buildings, as well as in several other countries across the Middle East.
“It has been a challenging journey. Having started as a small family business, we are now among the top construction companies in Kuwait. But like our country, we have faced major political and economic hurdles including invasion, recession, and regional turmoil, all of which we managed to overcome with responsive and prudent planning and risk management, which has made usually resilient in a very volatile global construction sector,” he reveals.