ET to roll out Family Business Awards
ET Bureau|
Dec 20, 2017, 11.12 PM IST
The Indian economy has been built over decades on the back of thousands of entrepreneurs who have followed their hearts and their minds, and created sustainable businesses. (Make that millions if you include SMEs and tiny businesses such as kirana stores.)
Practically every private enterprise that we see around us was founded by an entrepreneur or a group of entrepreneurs. Their vision, business acumen, and family values would sustain and grow the business while they lived. But what happens to the business after them? What happens to other stakeholders — employees, suppliers, minority shareholders — once the founders are no longer around? For that matter, even when they are around, there are challenges aplenty.
Managing a family business is not for the faint-hearted. For instance, it takes courage, acute objectivity and conviction for a family patriarch to elevate the second-born or a professional into the top leadership role. In addition, for a family business to sustain across generations, it needs structures and processes both for the business and the family. More importantly, it needs adherence to those processes.
It needs to professionalise its operations and leadership. It needs to build in strong corporate governance mechanisms. And a robust succession planning system. And much more. Families that have not handled these issues efficiently have seen their businesses shrink into insignificance, or even obliterated. But entrepreneurs and families who have managed these issues well have built lasting value for all their stakeholders and for the country's economy. It is important to identify these leaders, so that their strategies and thought processes can be understood and adapted by others.
To meet this objective, ET has created the Family Business Awards, presented by NxtGen Datacenter & Cloud Technologies.
With Grant Thornton as knowledge partner, and a star-studded jury panel, the inaugural edition of the Awards will identify the best family business leaders in categories such as Innovative Thought Leader, Family Business of the Year, Excellence in Family Business Governance, Effective Succession Planning, Global Visionary, and Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur. Organisations that wish to apply can access the application form at economictimes. com/familybusinessforum.
Practically every private enterprise that we see around us was founded by an entrepreneur or a group of entrepreneurs. Their vision, business acumen, and family values would sustain and grow the business while they lived. But what happens to the business after them? What happens to other stakeholders — employees, suppliers, minority shareholders — once the founders are no longer around? For that matter, even when they are around, there are challenges aplenty.
Managing a family business is not for the faint-hearted. For instance, it takes courage, acute objectivity and conviction for a family patriarch to elevate the second-born or a professional into the top leadership role. In addition, for a family business to sustain across generations, it needs structures and processes both for the business and the family. More importantly, it needs adherence to those processes.
It needs to professionalise its operations and leadership. It needs to build in strong corporate governance mechanisms. And a robust succession planning system. And much more. Families that have not handled these issues efficiently have seen their businesses shrink into insignificance, or even obliterated. But entrepreneurs and families who have managed these issues well have built lasting value for all their stakeholders and for the country's economy. It is important to identify these leaders, so that their strategies and thought processes can be understood and adapted by others.
To meet this objective, ET has created the Family Business Awards, presented by NxtGen Datacenter & Cloud Technologies.
With Grant Thornton as knowledge partner, and a star-studded jury panel, the inaugural edition of the Awards will identify the best family business leaders in categories such as Innovative Thought Leader, Family Business of the Year, Excellence in Family Business Governance, Effective Succession Planning, Global Visionary, and Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur. Organisations that wish to apply can access the application form at economictimes. com/familybusinessforum.
