Family Enterprise Foundation helps enterprising families achieve long-term success over generations, because family enterprise sustainability is crucial to the wellbeing of communities and the Canadian economy.
Family Enterprise Foundation’s research with the Conference Board of Canada showed that, in 2017, family enterprises generated 49% – or $574.6 billion – of Canada’s private sector GDP, directly accounting for 6.9 million jobs. When you consider their economic significance – and the utter pervasiveness of family businesses – it’s clear that their longevity plays a key role in Canada’s economic stability, which Family Enterprise Foundation vigorously supports.
Yet, long-term sustainability can only come by way of purposeful management, fluid transition and through a collective intention by owners to engage and develop some or all family members as responsible leaders. This comes about in many ways: good governance, ethical education, and purposeful communication, to name a few.
Family Enterprise Foundation calls this a “family learning journey”. This governs how the Foundation supports families and why they create top-notch, family-focused courses, educational events, entrepreneurial programs, diagnostic tools, as well as meaningful research. Family Enterprise Foundation helps members of the rising generation to develop ownership skills, enables senior owners to govern with purpose, helps women to seize their rightful roles as leaders, and enables entrepreneurs to pressure-test their business ideas.
But time is short. The ownership of more than 60% of Canadian family businesses will change hands
in the next decade. Alarmingly, just 47% of current owners expect to see ownership stay fully within the family, according to Family Enterprise Foundation’s latest research on transition intentions. They feel that this needs to change.
Family Enterprise Foundation knows that entrepreneurial families face complex journeys. The Foundation’s resources enable these individuals to strike a balance between family and business, to understand their unique life stages, and to appreciate the impact this has on family and enterprise dynamics. Family Enterprise Foundation helps families understand the implications of ownership, how to formalize effective decision-making processes, and (most importantly) how to plan for the future.
Family Enterprise Foundation’s ultimate goal is to develop strong, ethical leaders and business owners who will act as stewards of Canada’s economic stability, but there’s much work to be done. For example, only 34% of Canadian family businesses have a robust, documented succession plan in place. Ironically, only a minority of businesses families take full advantage of the professional solutions available to help them. Family Enterprise Foundation is changing that.
Patricia Saputo, CFO of Placements Italcan Inc., likens her family’s learning journey to an endorsement to succeed. “Family Enterprise Foundation helps enterprising families communicate amongst family members so that everyone feels empowered to ask those questions that wouldn’t necessarily get asked during a dinner time conversation.”
Family Enterprise Foundation enables those conversations. They believe it’s important to instill in enterprising families with the humility and self-awareness that they need to be on a learning path as long as they are in business together. This is one way Family Enterprise Foundation helps family business succeed and flourish, and ultimately build a better world, because stronger families build stronger communities.
To learn more about Family Enterprise Foundation, please visit FamilyEnterpriseFoundation.org.