Entrepreneurship is the building block of a solid family foundation. Family businesses are the oldest form of entrepreneurial organisations. A family business is defined as a company in which the leadership, control, ownership and main decisions are still made by generations of the same family (blood or marriage relations). According to a PWC report 83% of Nigerian family businesses have one dominant owner (much higher than the global average), and Women average 30% of board members. It is said that family businesses contribute 50% of America’s GDP. They provide over 60 million jobs in Europe, and in the United Kingdom are the backbone of the economy as 9 out of 10 private companies are family businesses.
The Dantata Organisation solid enterprises was created in 1910 as Alhassan Dantata and Sons Limited by the family patriarch Alhassan Dantata (1877-1955) who became the richest man in Africa trading commodities and distributing merchandise. Entrepreneurship runs through the family, and all sons including Mamuda, Sanusi, Ahmadu and Aminu worked their way up the organisation and expanded massively. The Dantata immediate and extended family business operations are an excellent example of inter-generational wealth, transformational entrepreneurship and building a dynasty where economic knowledge consistently transfers from generation to generation. Prominent great-grandsons include Aliko Dangote and Tajudeen Aminu Dantata
Mars remains one of the largest privately-owned family-businesses and manufactures under two brands Mars and the Wrigley company. Mars is one of the world’s largest food processing companies dealing in confectionary, pet food and others with about 100 products was created in 1911 by Franklin (Frank) Clarence Mars and his wife Ethel V. Mars. Frank Mars mother taught him how to hand dip candy which he started selling at age 19. However, the factory started in 1911 to sell fresh candy wholesale later failed. Frank then moved back home and in 1920 started another factory in Minnesota. By 1923 together with his son (Forrest Mars, Snr) and his wife (also called Ethel) created the Milky Way bar which became a bestseller and they expanded over the years. Mars has been operating over 105 years in about 68 countries.
“10 years from now your children will be eating or starving from the decisions that you have made today” (Unknown)
Examples of family business founders and companies worldwide include Alhassan Dantata (Alhassan Dantata and Sons); Aliko Dangote (Dangote Group of companies); Oba Otudeko (Honeywell Group); Prince Samuel Adedoyin (Doyin Group of Companies Limited); Tony Ezenna (Orange Drugs); Chief (Dr.) Abdulwahab Folawiyo (Yinka Folawiyo and Sons); Rasaq Okoya (Eleganza group); Tony O. Elumelu (Heirs Holdings); Mike Adenuga (Globacom); Li Ka-shing (CK Hutchison); Sam Walton (Wal-Mart); Mayer A. Rothschild (Banking); Henry Ford (Ford Motor Company); Walt Elias Disney (Disney); Bernard Arnault (Hennessy Louis Vuitton); Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Abu Dhabi); Dilip Shanghvi (Sun Pharmaceutical); Frank and L.E. Phillips (Phillips 66); Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries); Phil Knight (Nike); Hans Oppenheimer (Stemcor); W Garfield Weston (Associated British Foods); Joseph Banford (JCB); Estee Lauder; Carlos Slim Helu; Thomas Kwok; Samsung Group, Dyson, Clarks, Specsavers and so many others in different nations and continents of the world.
“I worked in the family business, which was my father's shoe making company that he had inherited from his father, and that led me to become interested in what could be achieved by a great Italian brand. That became my ambition as a young man” (Diego Della Valle)
Allan Houston, General Manager of the New York Knicks, former NBA team captain, two-time All Star and Olympic gold medallist acknowledges that financial stability is an important component to strong families. While growing up, Houston witnessed his parent’s successful build businesses, including having at a time the largest trucking company in the country.
“I went into the family business. To me, it was the norm and not the exception” (Tyne Daly)
The entrepreneurship career offers an opportunity to build individual or intergenerational wealth. Business has no gender and anyone can succeed. In great family businesses, both male and female family members contribute to the business. Additionally, many individuals end up following the footsteps of their parents, family or role-models. Apparently, a child’s character is often formed by the time they are about five years old, and the mother and father or parent figure are the child’s first teacher. Therefore, consider building a family business from today. The foundations of a strong family unit and generational wealth include entrepreneurship, shared values, related goals, tolerance, knowledge and unity.
“My family was in two businesses- they were in the textile business, and they were in the candy business. The conversations around the dinner table were all about the factory floor and how many machines were running and what was happening in the business. I grew up very engaged in manufacturing and as part of a family business” (Karen Mills)
Ultimately, the decision to become an entrepreneur can enable intergenerational wealth. The truth is that rival competition, family businesses and succession planning are extremely challenging. However, wealth is built and sustained from generation to generation through relevant education, group economics, excellent leadership, finance management, business, entrepreneurship and others. Hopefully, similar to a relay race, as you journey through entrepreneurship you will be able to hand the baton over to family. Every family needs to own a business, factors of production or alternatively pass on sector and employability skills, intrapreneurial or entrepreneurship career learning. Family businesses and entrepreneurial cultures sustain the wealth of families, generations, communities and nations.
Leadership, Family Business & Generational Wealth
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