Origins and Bloom

Omar Ismail al-Dafa
 (The Founder)

In the year 1962, Omar Ismail al-Dafa sensed the plentiful possibilities in his quickly developing country, and founded a trading & contracting company active in multiple sectors, as well as in real estate. Amongst the international companies represented by al-Dafa were American Motors, Fiat Motors, Nikon Cameras, Agip Lubricants, and Norge Electrical & Household Appliances. Over the decades, the company flourished and grew, and Omar passed on the torch to his sons, turning his business into a firm built on a strong family tradition.

At this moment, leadership of the family business is taken care of by Omar's sons Badr, Khattab and Ismail al-Dafa. Khattab is the chairman of the Company now ,Badr, the ex-chairman, heads a group of companies under the wings of Daffa International Company, founded in 2005. Badr was trained in the United States and turned to private business after a career of more than 20 years in government service, as the ambassador of the State of Qatar to a range of countries all over the world, including Spain, Switzerland, Egypt, the Baltic States, and most recently the United States of America. Through this experience as an active official representative for Qatar, Badr has been able to develop a network of contacts which spans the globe.

Daffa International Company ("DIC") oversees a group of daughter companies, amongst which we point out firstly Doha International Trade & Services ("DIT"), which is headed by Executive Director Ismail Omar al-Dafa. DIT takes care of the representation of international companies in Qatar, and of the import of a range of foreign products pertaining to all sectors of the economy.

DIB's real estate wing has taken shape with the founding of Amjad in 2002. Amjad purchases, sells and leases property and buildings in the greater Doha area, and undertakes large-scale construction projects of its own in the residential, commercial, and tourism/resort spheres. Examples of Amjad's construction projects are the realization of two villa compounds, an office tower, and currently a shopping mall in Doha, which will be catering to the academic population of Doha's Education City. Executive Director of Amjad is Abd Allah Omar al-Dafa, while Osama Omar al-Dafa serves as the Deputy Director.

DIC is also active in the tourism sector through its newly launched daughter firm Dafa Travel & Tourism, which will be presenting its tourist packages and luxurious "visit Qatar"-deals shortly.

Operating as a sister company of DIC is the Doha International Bureau ("DIB"), active since 2001 and restructured in 2004. DIB represents the IT expertise in the DIC-group, and specializes in graphic design, development of web sites, events management, exhibition systems and interactive presentation systems, the production of multimedia CD's, corporate hosting in Qatar, and a newly acquired internet taxi advertising system.

An ever increasing group of international firms active in construction, technology, security, food supplies and other sectors has by now partnered with DIC to find representation in Qatar, and from Qatar, throughout the GCC countries. Spain is extensively represented through DIC's partnership with Expansion Exterior. In the construction sector, projects have been realized in cooperation with many American & European engineering and consultancy firms . Other partners have been attracted from Europe (Finland, Belgium, Italy), the United States, Canada and Asia (China, Malaysia). Badr al-Dafa has brought his father's family project to a new level.