Burgan Bank and KAMCO host program for family-owned businesses

The interactive workshop - which was held last month at the Burgan Bank Tower in Kuwait City - addressed key business subjects and queries pertaining to the financial, marketing, and business management of family-owned businesses.

Attended by over 40 representatives of family-owned business and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the program highlighted the challenges and opportunities faced by family-owned businesses in Kuwait.

Speaking on the success of the program, Burgan Bank CEO Jonathan Lyon said,

"We are delighted to have partnered with KAMCO and AUK to present this highly-informative program. Promoting knowledge-acquisition and enhancing the know-how of communities to enable them to optimize their potential has always been a core area of our Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. We strongly believe that family-owned businesses and SMEs which are wealth drivers will increasingly play a greater role in influencing economic growth as they presently comprise a majority of Kuwait's economic foundation".

Stressing that family-owned businesses perform better than non-family owned businesses particularly in a market that has a long-standing history of flourishing family businesses, the workshop discussed that the key factors for sustaining competency are: blending nepotism and professionalism, maintaining family control of the business, perpetuating family success over generations, and passing the baton of management and ownership.

Mr. Saudoun Ali, CEO - KAMCO, adds that the workshop aimed to enable family-owned businesses to optimize their productivity through an objective assessment of their strengths and challenges.

"The success of family-owned businesses lies in making the right moves at the right times. However, most family-owned businesses lack adequate business intelligence and insight into market dynamics. We believe that this program will encourage participants to strategically evaluate and act upon their opportunities in the market. As one of the leading asset management and financial services company in Kuwait, KAMCO is delighted to have supported this program which elucidated the importance of strategic management and market analysis".

The workshop also shed light upon the importance of corporate governance structures in family-owned businesses.

Families that adopt strong corporate governance principles have a higher rate of effective succession planning.

Sound corporate governance structures give family-owned businesses a competitive advantage which not helps in mitigating financial and business risks, but also secure investor confidence.

Adherence to corporate governance policies that confirm business guidelines, conduct and agreements, and operational systems, makes it easier for people to ensure healthy degrees of regular communication, transparency, accountability and decisiveness.

Says Dr. Marina Tolmachëva, President of American University of Kuwait (AUK): "Family-owned businesses and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) are a significant and emergent business segment. They have their own set of challenges and obstacles on many fronts: operational, legal, marketing, financial and business-development. AUK business-education programs always have at their core the know-how for operating more efficiently in highly competitive markets. AUK Center for Continuing Education (CCE) is dedicated to serving the needs of the business community and, as always, we are pleased that we were able to address the queries and concerns of participants at this event".