Family businesses have been found to outperform others in times of crisis such as during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Harvard Business Review said the 21st century will belong to family businesses. And in most economies, including in Africa, family businesses constitute 80% to 90% of enterprises.
Professor Elmarie Venter (right), Director of Africa’s only Family Business Unit that is at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, presented those facts at the recent Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla. It was during her conversation with the American fifth generation entrepreneur, Mr Russell Fugett, during the session on Developing Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies. Their dialogue was titled Secrets to establishing multi-generational Family Businesses.