Tool Box
Issue No. 10 - April/May 2003
Generation Next
An innovative scheme to develop the next generation of family business leaders-the first of its kind in the nation-was launched last month to meet industry demand.
The Next Generation Program aims to equip aspiring employees and children of current family business owners with the skills needed to ensure their enterprise continues to be successful.
The program was launched in March by the SA Chapter of Family Business Australia (FBA-SA) and the Minister for Employment, Further Education and Training, Dr Jane Lomax-Smith. The launch was held at IJF Furniture at Kilburn, a family business established by four brothers in the 1960s, which now employs a second generation.
The Next Generation program comes at a time where succession planning is the biggest issue facing many of the SA's 55,000 family businesses. Baby Boomer business owners are poised to reduce their workloads and train their children to take over.
Family Business Australia's Next Generation program comprises three elements:
- A 12-month Certificate IV in Business - For the Family Business Environment to be offered at the Regency Institute of TAFE and focussing on the skills needed to succeed in a family business environment, as well as general business management skills;
- Workplace mentoring; and
- A secondment program where senior family business employees are placed in another family business to develop expertise in a particular field, gain exposure to a different industry and contribute to the host company. The secondments will be managed by accredited training provider David J Foreman & Associates.
The program begins in July, 2003. Enrolments are now being taken and those students completing the TAFE Certificate may go on to complete a secondment and vice versa.
FBA-SA executive member Alan Reddrop said the need for such specialised training had been highlighted in a survey of SA family businesses.
"Companies that had succeeded into the second ...
