Family businesses in Bangladesh are growing at a rate higher than the international average and ways must be found out to ensure that they flourish optimally.
This observation came at a discussion “Challenges and Opportunities of Family Business” on Saturday, said a press release.
Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI), in collaboration with Dun & Bradstreet South Asia Middle East Ltd., organized the event on its Gulshan office premises.
The discussion focused on succession plan and family constitution and the challenges and opportunities family businesses are faced with.
MCCI Vice-President Golam Mainuddin chaired the session where Girish Bagale, chairperson (Research and Case-development, Weekend-FMBA, ETW Programs) and Associate Professor at Pravin Dalal School of Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (DU), Mumbai, delivered the keynote presentation.
In his introductory remarks, Golam Mainuddin pointed out that family businesses in the country were growing at a rate higher than the international average despite facing many challenges in the areas of skill and efficiency, innovation, domestic competition, rising prices of energy, raw materials, etc.
Bangladesh must, therefore, look for ways to ensure that they flourish optimally, he said.
He also praised local family businesses like Square Group, Transcom Group, ACI group, Rahimafrooz Group, or Apex group for setting fine examples.
He assured of MCCI’s continued commitment to developing family businesses and taking the overall business environment of the country to newer heights.
Siddhartha Biswas, vice president and Head-South Asia, Dun & Bradstreet South Asia Middle East Ltd, first gave a brief idea of Dun & Bradstreet’s activities.
Later, he stated that Bangladesh was growing at a remarkable rate and would soon emerge as a leading global economy.
However, it would have to ensure diversifying into other industries and come out of the RMG-centric dependence to maintain the success, he said.
Bagale mentioned that issues such as owner’s death, a lack of interest on the part of the successors, and the involvement of the spouses of the next-generation family members could often determine the sustainability of a family business.
He also pointed out that most family businesses did not survive beyond the 3rd generation, so to ensure success, family businesses required a thorough understanding of the complexities involved and different sets of strategies than non-family businesses.
He recommended having clear succession plans and advisory boards for ensuring the best performance of family businesses.
Among others, members of boards of directors, managing directors, senior officials of different family-businesses and other organizations, former presidents of MCCI, and representatives from the media attended the event.
