Farouk Almoayyed

Farouk Almoayyed
Native name	فاروق يوسف المؤيد
Born	Farouk Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed (1944-05-26)26 May 1944 Manama, Bahrain
💀Died	25 November 2024(2024-11-25) (aged 80) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates25 November 2024(2024-11-25) (aged 80)
Resting place	Manama Cemetery
🎓 Alma mater	Loughborough College
💼 Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Chairman of Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons; founder of Almoayyed International Group
👩 Spouse(s)	Fadia Fahad Algosaibi (m. 1973)
👶 Children	4
👴 👵 Parents	Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed (father) Aisha Ahmed Almoayyed (mother)

Farouk Yousuf Almoayyed (Arabic: فاروق يوسف المؤيد; 26 May 1944 – 25 November 2024) was a Bahraini businessman who held leading roles in the country's trade, banking and hospitality sectors. He was chairman of the family conglomerate Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons from 1996 until his death, and in 1979 founded the Almoayyed International Group.

He also chaired the National Bank of Bahrain, Gulf Hotels Group, Bahrain Duty Free, Bahrain National Holding and Ahlia University, served on the Shura Council from 1992 to 2000, and was one of the founders of Ibn Khuldoon National School.

Early life and education

Almoayyed was born in Manama on 26 May 1944 to Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed and Aisha Ahmed Almoayyed, and grew up in the family house, Bait Al Oud, in the Fareej Al Fadhel neighbourhood. His father had moved the family's trade from pearls into electrical goods, and in 1940 founded the business that became Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons. From the age of ten Almoayyed spent his afternoons after school in his father's electrical shop or his uncle's stationery shop.

He was educated in Bahrain, first at Al Sharqia (Eastern) Primary School and then at Ras Rumaan Primary School, before moving in 1955 to Manama Secondary School, then the country's only secondary school. He then went on to school in England with his cousin Tariq Almoayed, later Bahrain's Minister of Information. He graduated in mechanical engineering from Loughborough College (now Loughborough University) in 1966, and later said that the training had shaped the way he approached problems in business.

Business career

Joining the family business

Almoayyed joined his father's business on his return to Bahrain in 1966 and was put in charge of its newly acquired Ford agency. Within a year the Arab boycott that followed the 1967 war forced the company to give up Ford, and the agency did not return until the 1980s. The company replaced it in 1968 with the Nissan and Pontiac dealerships, which proved a turning point for the business. He also brought computers into the company early, ordering some of the first NCR machines in Bahrain to run its accounts and stock.

The oil boom that followed Bahrain's independence in 1971 transformed the business. Over the following decades it moved into contracting, air-conditioning, construction equipment, concrete, furniture, retail and property, and built the Almoayyed Tower in Seef, a 47-storey, 171-metre office tower that was the tallest building in Bahrain when it was built.

Chairman of Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons

When his father died in 1996, Almoayyed became chairman of Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons, a post he held until his death. He chaired the group and each of its companies: Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons B.S.C. (c), Almoayyed Contracting Group W.L.L., Ashrafs W.L.L., the National Concrete Company W.L.L. and Y. K. Almoayyed Properties B.S.C. By the 2020s the group represented more than 300 international brands and employed between 7,000 and 8,000 people.

His son Mohammed succeeded him as chairman. In Forbes Middle East's 2026 list of the Top 100 Arab Family Businesses, Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons ranked 59th, the highest-placed Bahraini company on the list.

Almoayyed International Group

Alongside the family company, Almoayyed built a business of his own. In the late 1970s he wrote to the American computer maker Wang Laboratories and secured an order from Bapco for ten Wang word processors. On the strength of it he founded Almoayyed International in 1979, with Almoayyed Computers as Wang's distributor, starting with a small stock of computers on the seventh floor of the Almoayyed building in Manama. In the 1980s he imported Bahrain's first Apple II and Commodore PET computers, and in 1986 opened the Apple Centre, later renamed iWorld.

Information technology remained the core of the group, through Almoayyed Computers Middle East, iWorld and Almoayyed Commercial Services, which began in 1982 as the distributor of Minolta copiers. From 1983 the group also built an engineering arm, starting with Almoayyed Trading & Contracting and later adding companies in fire and safety, security systems, electrical and instrumentation systems, and solar energy. It went on to add manufacturing and packaging businesses, property, and food and beverage. By the 2020s it comprised some 25 companies operating in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Banking and finance

Almoayyed joined the board of the National Bank of Bahrain in 1997, served as its deputy chairman, and became chairman in 2010. He led the board until 28 March 2024, when he left it a few months before his death.

He also chaired Bahrain National Holding and National Finance House, and was deputy chairman of Al Ahli Commercial Bank. Over the years he sat on the boards of the Bahraini Saudi Bank, Arab Banking Corporation, TAIB Bank, Investcorp, Asia International Bank in Hong Kong, and United Gulf Insurance and Reinsurance.

Hospitality

Gulf Hotels Group

Almoayyed became chairman of Gulf Hotels Group, the listed owner of the Gulf Hotel in Manama, in 2002, and held the post until his death. Under his chairmanship the group grew well beyond its flagship hotel, which had opened in 1969. In Bahrain it opened the Gulf Executive Residence serviced apartments in Adliya in 2006 and in Juffair in 2018, and brought the Crowne Plaza Bahrain into the group in 2016. Abroad, it opened the Ocean Paradise Resort in Zanzibar in 2004 and the Gulf Court Hotel Business Bay in Dubai in 2018.

Bahrain Duty Free

Almoayyed was chairman of Bahrain Duty Free Shop Complex from its founding in 1990, when it began running the duty-free shops at Bahrain International Airport. In 2018, ahead of the opening of the airport's new passenger terminal, the company formed a joint venture with Gulf Air Group Holding, Bahrain Duty Free Company, owned 55 per cent by Bahrain Duty Free and 45 per cent by Gulf Air Group. The new company took over the airport's duty-free shops when the terminal opened on 28 January 2021.

Public life

After the Gulf War, Almoayyed was among the members appointed to Bahrain's newly formed Shura Council in 1992. He served until 2000, including a period as the council's deputy chairman. He was later deputy chairman of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority from 2006 to 2011, joined the Economic Development Board in 2018, and represented the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the Real Estate Regulatory Authority. From 1994 to 1998 he sat on advisory boards at Harvard University's Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East and Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

From 2002 to 2011 he chaired Dar Al Wasat, the publisher of the newspaper Al Wasat.

Education

Education was one of Almoayyed's longest-standing commitments. He was one of the founders of Ibn Khuldoon National School and helped lay its foundations before it opened in 1983. He went on to chair the school's board of trustees over two long periods, giving it financial, advisory and personal support as it developed its programmes and facilities, and he was still chairman at his death. In April 2024, as chairman, he hosted the school's 40th anniversary celebration.

He was also one of the founders of Ahlia University, which was established in 2001 as the first private university in Bahrain, and he chaired its board until his death. Over the following years the university formed a partnership with Brunel University London in 2004, was rated a "first category" university by Bahrain's Education and Training Quality Authority in 2015, and laid the foundation stone of a new campus in 2016. Re-elected chairman by the shareholders in 2018, he reported that the university had been ranked 35th in the Arab region by QS and first among Bahrain's private universities. The university's new campus in Salman City, planned to open in September 2026, includes a hall named after him in recognition of his support for the university from its founding.

Philanthropy and support for entrepreneurs

From 1972 Y. K. Almoayyed & Sons set aside 2.5 per cent of its profits for charity, and in 2013 Almoayyed established the Yousuf and Aisha Almoayyed Charitable Foundation, named after his parents. As chairman of the National Bank of Bahrain he oversaw the allocation of five per cent of the bank's annual profits to social programmes, which funded the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Health Centre in Askar and, under a 2018 agreement with the Ministry of Works, a multiple sclerosis centre at Muharraq Medical Centre.

He was honorary president of the Bahrain Society for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises from 2014 until his death. He set up a centre offering young entrepreneurs office space at nominal rents, and in 2021 the society launched the Farouk Almoayyed Award for the best start-up.

Honours

In December 2019 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth Bahrain Award for Entrepreneurship, held under the patronage of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and organised by Tamkeen. In October 2023 King Felipe VI of Spain awarded him the Order of Civil Merit, presented by the Spanish ambassador to Bahrain, Miguel Moro Aguilar, in recognition of his work in strengthening economic and commercial relations between Bahrain and Spain. In September 2025 he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Excellence for Personality of the Year by the Al Bilad Corporate Social Responsibility Shield committee.

Personal life

On 27 December 1973 Almoayyed married Fadia Fahad Algosaibi, of the Algosaibi merchant family of Saudi Arabia. They had four children: Mashael, Mohammed, Hala and Yousif.

Death

Almoayyed died in Abu Dhabi on 25 November 2024, aged 80, while receiving medical treatment there. He was buried the next day at Manama Cemetery, where hundreds gathered for his funeral.

References

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