Picture Credit: https://dbcsociety.com/
On 31 May the senior advisors on cooperative development, Prof. Huseyin Polat and Drs. Robby Tulus paid a visit to the Dubai Building Cooperative Society. Set up on 5 October 1992 to mark World Habitat Day, the Society seeks to achieve prosperity and happiness for its members by finding additional sources of income for citizens and low-income populations and applying the cooperative principles in accordance with Federal Law No. (13) of 1976. During the meeting, the team heard from Mr. Ahmed Omar Alkarbi, the Chairperson of the Society and Mr. Omar Al-Khayatt, its Finance Manager. During the meeting, Prof. Polat and Dr. Tulus discussed issues such as the voting rights of shareholders and the distribution of surplus and shared international case studies.
Dubai Building Cooperative Society has 1,800 shareholder members, employs 20 staff and owns five buildings with 400 units. One building is rented out to companies as an office building, while other buildings are residential buildings rented out to tenants. The surpluses from all rents are distributed to shareholders according to their shares after dividends and reserves are deducted.
The Society has undergone various stages of development, achieved strong economic growth, and engaged in the purchase, sale and lease of lands and housing facilities. Its articles of association reflect its desire to improve socio-economic conditions in the region, making material contributions from its annual profits to low-income members. The Society seeks to consistently widen the scope of its work, realise the best return for shared contributors, and achieve its goals.
Housing availability is not an issue for UAE citizens, who can receive land and funding from the government to build their own houses. However, many building companies focus on large-scale projects and skyscrapers, and those looking to build a house can experience difficulties in finding a building company. Pulling efforts as part of a cooperative could help.
We thank the society for its kind welcome and look forward to working with them in the future.
