New Ideas, Old Values

Listen to Annie Koh talk about how to encourage the next generation to be innovative and entrepreneurial within the family business.

Families in Asia are now going through a transition when the 3rd gen, 4th gen are coming into the business. And many of them are highly educated, sent overseas education outside, great ideas and a lot of entrepreneurship and innovation spirit. Don’t cut those spirit. Continue to encourage them to be innovative, to have entrepreneurial ideas. But what’s the glue? The glue will be the set of family values. So let them come in with a new platform, a new set of ideas, allow them to transform some of the old business. So we have a fantastic business that sells pots and pans, one of the families that we work with, and the old business is B2B. The father and the sister built the business and they sell it to hotels. So pots and pans to hotels, B2B. The new generation came in and said look, it’s so non-traditional to sell pots and pans, we want to open a bistro. So they opened the bistro, in the bistro there are cooking classes, but they also sell pots and pans, but not B2B, they sell B2C. But what’s the value? The value is we will still create value for our customers, we will still be quality pots and pan sellers, but one B2B and one B2C. So Asian families now are learning about increasing their footprints, letting the young come into the business, but the glue of the family values stay. So innovate, include the next gen in transform the business, but never shortchange what you strongly believe as a set of family values.