Inaugural family business conference announced

Family Business Central is to host the first conference focused on the unique needs and challenges of family owned businesses and farms in New Zealand.

The inaugural family business conference is focused solely on family owned enterprises regardless of industry, says Family Business Central CEO Philip Pryor (pictured).

“Family owned businesses are the backbone of the New Zealand economy, provide well over 50 percent of the employment in the country and by definition, family businesses are New Zealand owned. We should all, from government on down, be supporting this vital business sector as one of the primary drivers of growth, sustainability and entrepreneurship”.

However, family businesses have unique challenges, he says. “Every family who go into business say they will never let the business affect the family relationships.” He goes on to report that only one in three family businesses make it to the second generation. “When a family business fails, the smallest cost is the money,” he says. ” The mix of love and money is a potent brew.

“Many families either don’t think about how to manage the alignment between family and business or think they’ll never let it happen to them. Often families concentrate solely on the business and put off balancing the business and the family,” Pryor says, “I’ve seen the utter disasters that no one in the family wanted yet, events happened, decisions were taken that ended up devastating and tearing apart the family.

“The Kiwi attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ is exactly the wrong attitude,” Pryor emphasises.

Overseas research indicates that family businesses last longer, are more agile and perform better than other businesses. The research also shows that investing in planning for the future, will not only save a business but will enable it to thrive and grow into the future, with family relationships intact.

The Family Business Conference has attracted key note speakers from multi-generational, multi-million dollar family businesses who will go through their experiences of being a successful family business, including the good and the really not-so-good. This is invaluable to those who are not only starting out in family businesses or farming but to those who are part of multi-generational family business and are looking to identify the next steps.

As well as great speakers, there are six highly interactive workshops that will provide detailed business and family information for families to take back and apply in their businesses immediately, says Pryor.

“New Zealand is the land of family business. There is just very little awareness of how important they are, the unique challenges they face and what they need to do to be successful.”

Family Business Central’s main goal is to help the ‘family’ in family businesses. Philip Pryor has identified the unique needs of the family business. He goes on to say, “it is important to bring together businesses who share experiences, and provide them the support, information and advice required to thrive and grow.” He calls it “Growing Family and Business Capital” – the theme of this inaugural conference.

NZ born, Pryor has enjoyed a global professional career. He is bringing his experience and expertise home to New Zealand and is thrilled to engage with family businesses here, where he says, “Family business is the backbone of the NZ economy”

It is easy to register, and family businesses are encouraged to bring several members of their family to gain the most from the event.

Business advisors are invited to register also, although numbers are limited to 25 percent of the total; the focus is on families in business.

To find out more: www.familybusinesscentral.com