Sheikh Suhail Bahwan: From Sur Dhows to a Billion-Dollar Empire

He left school after sixth grade, learned commerce on a dhow in the Indian Ocean, and took a loan from an Indian merchant to trade gold. By the time of his passing on 23 November 2025, Sheikh Suhail Salim Bahwan had built a conglomerate employing more than 7,000 people across six countries, with revenues exceeding OMR 3.77 billion. His story is arguably the most complete arc in Omani business history and holds profound lessons for every founder building in Oman today.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Sheikh Suhail Bahwan (1939–2025) founded the Suhail Bahwan Group (SBG) in Muscat in 1965, growing it from a single shop in Muttrah Souq into a 30-company conglomerate.
• The pivotal moment came in 1975 when Sultan Qaboos directed that an Omani-owned company should hold the Toyota dealership, a decision that transformed the group's fortunes.
• A decade-long dispute with his brother Saud led to a formal split in 2002, after which SBG diversified aggressively into chemicals, fertilizers, and industrial manufacturing.
• His daughter Amal Bahwan now leads the group as Vice-Chairperson and is ranked among Forbes Middle East's most powerful businesswomen in the region.
• SBG's revenue model shifted from pure trading to industrial production, with a urea plant producing approximately 1.3 million metric tons annually.
• The group was ranked 17th among the Forbes Middle East Top 100 Arab Family Businesses in 2020.

🌊 Roots in Sur: Commerce Learned at Sea

Born on 22 May 1939 in Sur, a coastal town near the Strait of Hormuz, Suhail Bahwan grew up in a trading family whose world was shaped by the Indian Ocean dhow routes. As a young boy, he and his brother Saud accompanied their father on voyages, exchanging dried dates and fish for rice and sugar across ports in India, Iraq, and Zanzibar.

He attended primary school in India but left after sixth grade. Rather than continue his education, his father placed him in charge of managing the dhows. By his teenage years, Suhail was negotiating with merchants from three continents, learning the fundamentals of credit, trust, and timing without a classroom in sight.

His early independent ventures were humbling. He borrowed from Indian merchants to buy gold and resell it across Oman. After repaying his creditors, profit margins were almost nothing. The lesson stayed with him for life: margin, capital structure, and trusted relationships were everything.

🏪 Muttrah Souq, 1965: The Starting Line

In 1965, Suhail and Saud relocated permanently to Muscat and opened a shop in the Muttrah Souq under the name "Suhail and Saud Bahwan." They sold fishing nets, building materials, and basic tools. Muscat Daily described the venture as beginning with "little more than determination and a modest stall."

What distinguished Suhail from other traders was his deliberate approach to relationships. He personally visited fellow shopkeepers, attended social gatherings, and cultivated connections with government officials. This network-building was not casual socializing. It was systematic, and it would pay off in ways that no amount of capital could have purchased.

In 1968, the strategy bore its first major fruit. The brothers secured agency licenses for two Japanese brands: Seiko watches and Toshiba electronics. These were not just product lines. They were proof to the market that Suhail and Saud Bahwan could be trusted with global brands.

🚗 The Toyota Turning Point (1975): Oman's Most Consequential Dealership

No single decision shaped the modern Suhail Bahwan Group more than the Toyota distributorship secured in 1975. The timing was critical. Sultan Qaboos bin Said had acceded to power in 1970, launching Oman's rapid modernisation drive. Infrastructure projects were multiplying, incomes were rising, and demand for vehicles was surging.

Toyota was searching for a Gulf distribution partner, and competition was fierce. Al Futtaim, the major UAE-based group, was considered the frontrunner. To demonstrate financial credibility sufficient to compete, the Bahwan brothers partnered with prominent businessman Omar Zawawi in 1974 to establish Amiantit Oman, a pipe manufacturing company. The revenues generated within that year provided the capital base they needed to present a convincing case.

The decisive factor, however, came from the top. Sultan Qaboos directed that the Toyota franchise should be held by an Omani-owned company, a nationalistic economic decision that positioned the Bahwans ahead of their larger regional rivals. Within three years, the Suhail Bahwan Group's official corporate history records, Toyota had become Oman's automotive market leader.

The Muttrah shop had become the launchpad for an automotive empire.

📈 A Decade of Acceleration (1977–1990)

The 1980s saw the group expand across sector after sector. Ford and major heavy equipment manufacturers joined the portfolio. A travel agency was launched with international airline partnerships. Car rental operations began. Major construction, oil, and gas infrastructure projects followed.

In 1984, the group acquired a firm specialising in desalination and power plants, signalling a move beyond consumer goods into national infrastructure. By the late 1980s, SBG's workforce had exceeded 4,000 people and its operations spanned telecommunications, logistics, electronics, and food supply.

The Bahwan brothers had transformed a Muttrah market stall into one of the pillars of Oman's emerging private sector.

⚖️ The Brother Split: A Crisis That Shaped the Future

In 1990, a dispute arose between Suhail and Saud that would define the following decade. The nature of the disagreement, as documented in public sources, centred on the direction and governance of the shared enterprise. The unresolved tension created a period of stagnation that lasted twelve years.

In 2002, the brothers formally separated their operations. The division was consequential: Saud Bahwan Group retained the Toyota license, by then one of the most commercially valuable automotive franchises in Oman. Suhail Bahwan Group kept the Seiko and Toshiba licenses and subsequently secured distribution rights for Nissan and BMW.

Rather than diminish the group, the separation became a catalyst. Freed from the constraints of a fractured partnership, Suhail moved aggressively into industrial manufacturing, a pivot that would dwarf the automotive revenues that had built the original business.

🏭 The Industrial Pivot: Chemicals, Fertilizers, and Scale

In 2000, SBG opened a sulphuric acid production plant in Sohar. This was not a trading operation. It was manufacturing, and it signalled a fundamental shift in the group's identity.

In 2009, a urea plant became operational, producing approximately 1.3 million metric tons annually. Combined with the Sohar chemicals complex, this industrial base generated revenues that reshaped the group's financial profile entirely. By 2016, SBG was generating OMR 3.77 billion in annual revenue across its 30 companies and 15-plus business lines.

The group that had once sold fishing nets was now a significant producer of the fertilizers that fed agricultural industries across the region.

💻 Technology: Bahwan IT and the Digital Shift

As Oman's Vision 2040 accelerated the country's digital transformation agenda, SBG moved to position its technology arm for the new era. Bahwan IT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ValueLabs, an Indian IT solutions company operating in more than 25 countries, to bring enterprise IT services to the Omani market.

The IT and telecommunications segment now operates alongside the group's traditional pillars of automotive distribution, travel, engineering, energy, chemicals, healthcare, and logistics. The group's technology investments reflect a clear-eyed reading of where Oman's economy was heading under Vision 2040: away from oil dependency and toward knowledge-based industries and digital infrastructure.

👩‍💼 The Second Generation: Amal Bahwan Takes the Helm

In 1998, at the height of the family discord, Suhail's daughter Amal joined the business. She entered with no title and no salary, self-assigning to audit operations and build new systems and policies from the ground up. Her approach was entirely consistent with her father's: earn credibility through work, not inheritance.

By 2016, Suhail had delegated the majority of management responsibilities to Amal. She was ranked the most powerful businesswoman in Oman and 26th regionally by Forbes Middle East in 2023. She also serves as Chairperson of the National Bank of Oman and Chairperson of Al Jazeera Steel, extending her personal footprint well beyond the group her father built.

🤝 Philanthropy and Community Legacy

Sheikh Suhail's reputation within Oman extended far beyond his commercial achievements. He was widely respected for sustained contributions to education, healthcare, and social welfare across Omani communities. The group's founding principles, documented formally as "One Team, One Family" and "Our Word is Our Bond," reflected values that permeated not just business conduct but community engagement.

When news of his passing was announced on 23 November 2025, tributes arrived from across the business and government community. The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) described him in its official condolence statement as "an exceptional leader whose contributions strengthened Oman's business landscape."

The group's official statement read: "Sheikh Suhail leaves behind a legacy of integrity, humility, and an unwavering commitment to the people and progress of the Sultanate of Oman."

📊 The Numbers at the End

At the time of his death, the Suhail Bahwan Group comprised:

• More than 30 companies
• More than 7,000 employees
• Operations across Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Libya, and Iraq
• 15-plus business lines spanning travel, engineering, energy, IT, chemicals, healthcare, and logistics
• Ranked 17th in the Forbes Middle East Top 100 Arab Family Businesses (2020)
• Estimated personal net worth of $2.1 billion (Forbes 2020)

🇴🇲 Why This Story Still Matters in 2026

Oman's Vision 2040 calls for economic diversification away from hydrocarbons, the growth of the private sector, and the development of an entrepreneurial generation. Sheikh Suhail Bahwan's story is, at its core, a manual for exactly this kind of transformation, written in practice rather than policy.

He demonstrated that an Omani entrepreneur could start with nothing more than a market stall and a reputation for reliability, survive a catastrophic family dispute, pivot from trading to industrial manufacturing, and ultimately build a business that outlasts the founder. His daughter Amal's continued leadership of SBG is itself a message: that Omani family businesses, when built on genuine competence rather than lineage, can successfully navigate generational succession.

For today's Omani founders navigating a competitive landscape shaped by Vision 2040, the Bahwan story offers several durable lessons. Relationships built before you need them are the most valuable assets you will ever accumulate. Crises, including family crises, can become catalysts for reinvention. And the willingness to move from trading to producing, from distributing to manufacturing, is often the leap that separates good businesses from great ones.

Sheikh Suhail Bahwan passed away in Muscat on 23 November 2025. The group he built endures.

📚 Sources

• Muscat Daily: "Sheikh Suhail Bahwan's Enduring Legacy Marks a Defining Era" (24 November 2025)
• Muscat Daily: "Sheikh Suhail Bahwan Passes Away" (23 November 2025)
• Times of Oman: "Tributes Pour In as Sheikh Suhail Bahwan Passes Away" (November 2025)
• Suhail Bahwan Group Official Corporate History: "Back to the Future: The SBG Story"
• Suhail Bahwan Group Official Site: "From Humble Beginnings"
• Family Business Histories: "Suhail Bahwan Group" profile
• Forbes Middle East: Top 100 Arab Family Businesses 2020 (ranked 17th)
• Muscat Daily: "Oman's Leading Business Clans" (29 June 2020)
• Gulf Business: "100 Most Powerful Arabs 2023" (Amal Suhail Bahwan profile)
• Wikipedia: "Suhail Bahwan" entry