The Sulayem family has been one of Dubai's most prominent business and political families since at least the early 20th century. Ahmed bin Sulayem's father was a key advisor to Dubai's ruling Maktoum family. A son of his, Ahmed bin Sulayem, is also prominent in business.
Business career
Bin Sulayem's first job after graduating from college in the late 1970s was as a customs inspector at Dubai's then sleepy port. He told Fortune Magazine in 2008 that his future career was set when a man mistakenly came into his office one day and in the course of chatting suggested that Dubai could serve as an entrepot for the tea trade if it created a tax-free zone at the port. That chance meeting encouraged him to travel the world studying tax-free trading zones. When he returned home he approached Dubai's future ruler and family friend Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with a proposal to build a free trade zone at the port. "If you really believe in it, you go run it." Bin Sulayem said Sheikh Mohammed told him. "I was 30." That conversation led to Bin Sulayem serving as the first chairman of the Dubai government's tax-free Jebel Ali Free Zone when it was founded in 1985. Since the 1980s, Bin Sulayem has been one of the most prominent businessmen in Dubai, with a string of government-linked ventures. In addition to chairing Dubai World he helped found Nakheel, one of the UAE's largest property developers and Istithmar, a major investment holding company in Dubai. Both companies are Dubai World subsidiaries. He also served on the board of the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, until November, 2009, when Bin Sulayem was removed from that post in the wake of the debt crisis that struck Dubai that year. In late 2009 and early 2010, Dubai was struggling to pay $80 billion in debt, most of it linked to Dubai World and its subsidiaries. The Wall Street Journal's influential Heard on the Street column said in October 2009 that Dubai World "has just been radically restructured after running up almost $60 billion of liabilities on ill-judged acquisitions like struggling Madison Avenue retailer Barneys and the Queen Elizabeth 2 liner, which has since largely languished in a Dubai dry dock" and that "surprisingly, senior management remains in place, including Sultan bin Sulayem, the chairman who masterminded the expansion." Sulayem was finally removed from his post in December, 2010 and was replaced by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, a member of the royal family.
