This week, we're discussing family-owned firms on the mainland. For decades, the world has watched China's rapid economic miracle. But this historic growth has created a new challenge for the heart of its private sector: a massive wave of succession. As the founders of countless family-owned firms prepare to retire, they are passing their legacies to the next generation - a cohort known as the Fu'erdai, or 'rich second generation.'
The scale of this transition is staggering. In fact, a report from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce shows that over 80% of the Chinese mainland’s 1 billion private enterprises are family-owned. Between 2017 and 2022, about three-fourths of these businesses entered a leadership handover, marking the largest succession wave in the country's history.
These companies, many established during the industrial boom of the 80s and 90s, are now navigating a very different economy. As inheritors take over the companies their parents built from the ground up, how are they overcoming these unique challenges to save their family legacies? And how does the mainland’s family business sector compare to those in other parts of the world?
Chi-man Kwan, the Group Chief Executive Officer at Raffles Family Office will be discussing these questions with CM Chan and Chloe Feng.
