Creating a Family Business Legacy

Listen to Zahra F. Rasul talk about considering her legacy even as she starts out as an entrepreneur.

Before I came this summer to see Philippe and Nan-B, I thought that my, I thought that my time to be an entrepreneur, to do this, would be limited to the next 20 years of my life, I was thinking about 20 years in advance and I met them and I thought, I probably have more like 50 years to think about here. And I began thinking about what my legacy was going to be, you know, to my children. And I didn’t grow up in a family business, but my parents did, my grandparents were in family business, and my uncles and aunts and my great grandparents, so the family business legacy is very long. But my parents had this, they raised us with this idea that you can’t be entitled, you have to work for what you have, which I appreciate and certainly forms my value system as well, and so I have started to think a little bit more, this weekend has been a really great opportunity for me to think through and sort of see the challenges that some of the other women are facing around how to structure ownership and succession, what kinds of qualifications, what kinds of education, different family members should have if they’re 3rd or 4th or 5th or 6th generation, and so starting to think through some of these things for me.