[ business ]

Building businesses with purpose, structure and long-term value.

Ribbon cutting at an Abcon Group inauguration with the team and guests
abcon group

My relationship with business began early, but the way I think about it continues to evolve.

Today, I am involved in a family-business group, building my own ventures, and learning how businesses can grow beyond their founders through better structure, stronger leadership and clearer direction.

Illustration: a sapling growing from dark soil, an arched tower faint behind it
[ how i think about business ]

Growth should create something useful.

I believe the strongest businesses do more than generate revenue.

They solve real problems, create opportunities, employ people, build trust and continue producing value over time.

The businesses I want to be part of should have that purpose at their core.

[ a business should grow like this ]
A business should become more valuable to the world as it grows.
[ chapter i of iii ]

Family Business

Abcon Group

[ family business ]

From competition to collaboration.

Illustration: one small emerald building with a single gold window in a vast night desert

The story of Abcon Group did not begin with a holding company.

It began with two competing businesses in the UAE market: Abjar Advertising and Concept Advertising.

Both companies became known for serving cafeterias and restaurants, particularly through menu design and related advertising work.

Abjar Advertising, led by my father, helped pioneer the use of photo-led restaurant menus in the UAE market, solving a simple but important communication problem between customers and restaurant staff.

Muhammed Shafad with Hassan Thurab in front of the Abcon Group and Concept wall

In 2009, the founders of Abjar Advertising and Concept Advertising came together around a shared challenge.

Both companies depended on external printing partners.

Instead of continuing separately, they decided to collaborate and establish German Printing Press.

That partnership became the beginning of what would later evolve into Abcon Group.

[ how the group grew ]

One customer need led to another.

The group expanded gradually by staying close to the needs of the businesses it served.

What began around restaurant menus and advertising grew into printing, signage, packaging, manufacturing, interiors, F&B, branding, media, corporate services and travel.

2009

where it began · german printing press

09

milestones on the way

11

areas of business today

[ 2009 — 2024 ]
Illustration: emerald towers rising from left to right across the desert like a chart
  1. 2009
    01 · printing

    German Printing Press

  2. 2011
    02 · signage

    Signage expansion

  3. 2013
    03 · packaging

    Al Warka Boxes & Packaging

  4. 2015
    04 · manufacturing

    Alpha Pack Paper & Plastic Products Manufacturing

  5. 2016
    05 · oman

    Oman expansion

  6. 2016
    06 · f&b · interiors

    F&B and interior-related expansion

  7. Post-2020
    07 · branding

    Abcon Branding

  8. 2024
    08 · corporate services

    Concept Corporate Services

  9. 2024
    09 · travel

    Tour Point Tours & Travels

[ abcon group today ]

A growing business ecosystem.

Today, Abcon Group spans multiple industries supporting businesses across the UAE and beyond.

Its businesses operate across areas including:

Illustration: arched pavilions in a circle around a gold fountain
01

Advertising

02

Branding

03

Printing

04

Signage

05

Interior fit‑out

06

Packaging

07

Paper and plastic manufacturing

08

F&B

09

Corporate services

10

Travel and tourism

11

Media

The common thread across these businesses is simple:

help businesses operate, communicate and grow.

Illustration: separate gold eggs resting on an emerald leafIllustration: an emerald cocoon taking an ordered, structured shapeIllustration: a chrysalis glowing gold, wings forming insideIllustration: the chrysalis splitting open as gold wings unfoldIllustration: a gold butterfly fully emerged from its chrysalis
[ transformation ]

From a collection of businesses to a structured holding company.

The next phase of Abcon Group is about structure.

Together with Shifaz, I am part of the next generation pushing the group toward greater organization, modernization and a formal holding-company model.

The long-term vision is to build a business ecosystem capable of supporting companies across multiple stages of their journey, from setup and documentation to branding, interiors, packaging, marketing, media and operational support.

The goal is not simply to own more businesses. It is to build a group that works better together.

[ my role in abcon group ]

My role is still evolving.

Today, I participate in strategic decisions across selected verticals and contribute to discussions around modernization and group transformation.

I am not involved in the daily operations of every company.

My role is increasingly focused on helping ask the larger questions:

  1. 01What should the group become?
  2. 02How can it be structured better?
  3. 03How can it operate beyond the founders?
  4. 04How can professional leadership and systems eventually strengthen it?

I expect my responsibility in that transition to grow over time.

[ chapter ii of iii ]

Personal Venture

Kukit

Muhammed Shafad holding a fried-chicken burger inside the original Kukit outlet in Ajman
[ f&b venture ]

A homegrown idea built around food we love.

Kukit began in Ajman in 2024 from a shared love for good food and the ambition to build an F&B brand of our own.

The concept was built around familiar favourites, casual comfort food and a simple goal: create a place people would genuinely enjoy returning to.

For me, Kukit also became one of my earliest hands-on experiences in building a consumer-facing business.

[ current status ]

Kukit is currently paused while we rethink its next chapter.

paused
[ future direction ]Kukit 2.0, in development

The ambition remains to build a strong UAE-born F&B brand with the potential to grow into a multi-location business over time.

The next version will only move forward when the concept, operating model and brand direction are strong enough to support sustainable growth.

[ chapter iii of iii ]

Future Ambition

Consumer brands in F&B and retail

Illustration: a tower under construction at dawn with a gold crane at its top
[ future ventures ]

Consumer brands are where my ambition is heading.

Beyond the businesses I am involved in today, I am especially interested in building consumer brands.

F&B and retail are the spaces that excite me most.

I want to build brands people experience directly, businesses that can begin locally, earn loyalty and eventually scale across markets.

I do not know yet exactly what all of those businesses will look like.

But I know the direction.

Build locally. Earn trust. Scale with purpose.

[ business principles ]

What I want every business I build to carry.

  1. 01
    [ 01 / 06 ]

    Real Value

    Solve something that matters.

  2. 02
    [ 02 / 06 ]

    People

    Create opportunities and help teams grow.

  3. 03
    [ 03 / 06 ]

    Trust

    Build relationships that last.

  4. 04
    [ 04 / 06 ]

    Structure

    Create businesses capable of operating beyond the founder.

  5. 05
    [ 05 / 06 ]

    Brand

    Build something people can recognise, understand and believe in.

  6. 06
    [ 06 / 06 ]

    Longevity

    Think beyond the next quarter.

[ closing ]

I am still learning what kind of businessman I want to become.

What I know today is that I want to build businesses that are useful, trusted, well-structured and capable of lasting.

  • Some will come through the family-business journey.
  • Some will be ventures I build from the ground up.
  • And some are still ideas waiting for the right time.