The business is a family conglomerate founded in 1962 by his father, Abdullah Mohammed Ali Al-Dabbagh, the former Minister of Agriculture of Saudi Arabia.

In 2015, he created Philanthropy University which offers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to Global South non-profit leaders.

[8] The initiative was created with the collaboration of Institute for Business and Social Impact at the Haas School.

[13][14] On November 4, it was claimed that Dabbagh was called from Jeddah to the Ritz Carlton, a luxurious Riyadh hotel that had been converted into a makeshift prison for hundreds of Saudis suspected of corruption by the authorities, and was detained together with other prominent Saudi officials and businessmen.

[15] Along with Dabbagh, Adel Fakeih, the former economy minister of the country, and Hani Khoja, were kept in custody.