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Sometimes it may almost feel as if on the side of the fathers is an ego problem.
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They're not willing to let go.
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Yes.
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Yeah.
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In fact, there's one that the parents are in their 70s.
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And the main struggle is the fact that I think the parents are simply just trying to protect the business and be able to have enough funds before they pass.
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They don't want to make the young people to make mistakes so that it kills the business.
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Then, you know, at 70, they can't work.
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There's nothing.
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Yes.
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Right?
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Yes.
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So sometimes there is ego.
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There is fear.
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Okay.
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Imagine you started a business in your 30s as a young man and you built it and today you are 75.
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And your child is coming on board.
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So you've spent a significant part of your active work life building this thing.
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This was your baby.
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Okay.
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So you had natural baby in form of your children.
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Now this business is also your baby.
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But a sentiment, sentiment, there is that attachment, that emotional attachment.
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Which is why I say sometimes it's about each party really just understanding where each person is coming from.
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And let's give ourselves some grace.
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It's tough on the part of the older generation as well because there is that struggle of, I hope they don't mess it up.
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I hope they can do this thing.
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I hope if I step away.
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things will not crumble.
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But you see, I always say to people, start your succession while you're still in there.
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Because the moment you're looking at putting succession plan in place, when you step out, there's no way you won't have heart palpitation.
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There's no way you won't sabotage what you're trying to do.
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Because you will give them the the position, but you won't give them the authority.
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What's the difference?
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Oh, there's a difference.
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I can give you a role.
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I can call you my succeeding MDCEO.
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But every major decision still goes through me.
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Oh, yes.
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Oh, yes, it's happening.
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Oh, yes.
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So if any money is going to be signed out of the organization, it comes to me.
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So at the end of the day, you're more like a... You're working for me.
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Apart from working, you're just there as a figurehead.
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You know you don't have authority.
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And that frustrates the younger generation a lot.
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Because they didn't feel like, okay, you're still running this show.
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How about you just come back and take your thing?
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Since you will not allow me to run this show.
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Do you see?
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So there is a way we work around this with our clients.
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How do you do it?
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So there is the angle of family governance and there's also the angle of succession planning, which double as transition planning for the founding generation, the patriarch or the matriarch as the case may be.
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Now on the family governance side of things, they are already practicing how to make decisions at the family level.
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You have the family constitution drawn up.
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Yep.
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which is like the guidebook, the rulebook that says this is who we are, this is how we do things, this is how we make decisions, these are the do's and don'ts, you know, this is how we take ownership, these are the things we will never invest in, this is how we will never be represented, this is who we are, these are our values, all those things are there.
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Right now, that family constitution drives the family in terms of how they even take, you know, run their own meetings.
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So they have board meetings.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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So there's a family council that is set up.
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That's the governing body within the family of which the children are a part of.
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So there's already role play happening at the family level before they get to the point where they now work in the business.
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Or the father is thinking of handing over to maybe the child or the children as the case may be.
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Now, secondly, as you prepare the children, perhaps maybe while they're still in school, they're doing their master's or maybe they've already started working somewhere.
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One of the things you can immediately start to do is to get them to be part of the board, even if they are just there as observers.
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So they understand how decision making is made.
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They even understand daddy in the boardroom, not daddy at home.
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Do you see what I mean?
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They understand how business decisions are processed.
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What are the things that are big consideration before business decisions are taken?
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So they've been part of that for years.
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By the time they are there to take over, they already understand certain things.
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Some things are not just shocked to them.
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Another thing also is even from the point where your kids are maybe in primary secondary school during their summer, whatever, bring them into the office.
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Let them do internship jobs or whatever.
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So my jobs doesn't work in the business.
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Let them get familiar with the business.
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That naturally even builds their interest.
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And you see this hiccups that we always find at a point where the father is trying to transition to the son and the son is wondering, does he even want me?
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Does he respect my ideas?
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Does he whatever?
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It's because you're coming into that thing.
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It's just like husband and wife just getting married.
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You know, at the honeymoon phase, everything feels like all rosy.
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But when that phase is off, you know, there is now friction.
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Yes.
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Almost like we're tussling for, you know, and the man feels, no, no, no, I'm the man.
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The woman, yes, I know you're the man, but I'm also your wife.
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Do you see?
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Yes.
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So it's almost as though we are now tussling for authority as it were, or whose voice gets heard.
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Right.
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Do you see?
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That can be managed when you groom from almost the one.
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And you're having communication about business without necessarily having the children in the business yet.
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So once in a while, as a father, ask your children, what do you think about this idea?
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We're trying to expand to Ghana.
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We think that the market there is ready for what we are doing or for our product or service.
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What do you think?
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I'm not interested.
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See what I mean?
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Yeah.
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Do you see?
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So those kind of things, even whether what they are sharing with you, you're going to use it or not, it just feels like, oh, it thinks that what I have to say matters.
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Right.
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It has respect for my thoughts, my views.
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Do you see?
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So when you begin to build that,
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You're going to be able to manage the whole idea of, does he want me, does he not want me?
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Because I have a lot of next gens talking to me.
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And I know that this struggle that you're talking about is very real.
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Some of them actually want to step into the family business, but they just get frustrated.
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Because they feel like, I have a lot to give, but I feel like I'm in handcuffs.
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You know, or I feel like my voice is not respected.
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I feel like I have to prove myself.
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And that alone can be very stressful for some of them.
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Can you imagine going to Harvard to study, let's say, business administration or whatever.
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You come back home to Nigeria, to your father's business.
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And now you have to work with your father.
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He's at home and you always have to go to him.
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for his consent before you can make a decision and your own salary so he's paying you now anything you do you can step on it and say accountant don't pay this guy meanwhile the father's education is not even at the level of yours he's built it from you know from vibes yeah exactly some of these kids are really frustrated is it the culture or the big word trust that is the issue
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It's a combination of many things.
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There is culture.
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There's a part where the father still feels like no matter what, you know, I'm still your father and the child should know when he needs to defer.
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To his father.
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Or whatever it is worth, there's the man's ego that will always be there.
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Just understand, have the wisdom to know when to defer, even though you know what to do.
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At the end of the day, the old man may say, oh, by the way, young man, go ahead with this thing.
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You know what to do.
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Ha.
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Do you see what I mean?
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As opposed to you just feeling fly.
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Like, yeah, I'm now the one in charge.
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So you don't care what the old man thinks.
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Once in a while.
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Secondly, I also feel like the older generation should put structure in place that does not create that woman structure.
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If the younger generation coming on board feels like it's still the man that makes the decision at the end of the day, it feels like a trap.
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to them.
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However, if you have built a business where there is a board that is responsible for decision making, that provides a support system for the young man that is coming on board.
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Because at the end of the day, even if the father is the chairman, he knows that just one vote does not make a decision.
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Javiola, in the example I gave you from the beginning,
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husband and wife they didn't go to school okay so there's no question of board or no board who is the board okay now is the husband and the wife that is the board they are doing their own thing it's okay and to them because they don't have high education level that's why they took the kids to school abroad so in that case right in that case how do you how do you institutionalize such a business so i have
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people, next gens who have come to me, who have found themselves in similar situations, what they are now trying to do is to put that board that I spoke about in place, among many other changes that they are trying to put in place.
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Now you will get a lot of pushback.
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you would get a lot of friction.
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There was a reason they didn't even consider putting a bolt in place in the first place.
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Fear of, I don't want anybody all up in my business.
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I don't want people knowing what I'm doing.
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I don't want somebody coming to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing.
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I know my business well enough.
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They don't have appreciation for those things.
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You've gone to school.
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You've gone to the business schools around the world.
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You understand governance.
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Now you're trying to put governance in place, controls.
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You're not speaking this big English.
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You're thinking you are better than your parents.
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Exactly.
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That's why I said there is a place of wisdom.
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Sometimes, some of these things, don't try to push it by yourself.
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Get people involved.
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Get people involved.
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So you can create a scenario where you get the parents to agree to have consultants come in to help you think through the next phase of growth for the business.
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Do you see?
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You know what you're trying to do.
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You know the changes that are supposed to be happening within the business.
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But coming from you, you're unlikely going to take it.
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But coming from a third party that has experience and knowledge and a proven track record of having helped other people build their businesses or scale their business, they're more likely going to listen to it.
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So that's why I said borrow some wise heads.
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If there is no board in place, maybe you should get a consultant on board.
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And that's why I say sometimes some of these conversations are better brokered by an experienced third party.
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Right.
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Than the kids themselves.
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Than the kids themselves.
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Absolutely.
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I have something for you.
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Tell me.
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The man has 10 kids.
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Okay.
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Six of them are different mothers.
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Okay.
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Big business.
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Over 40 million US dollars in revenue every year.
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How do they deal with that?
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It goes back to the family governance structure that I talked about.
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Africans are...
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Okay, I won't say Africans.
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Families can be very dynamic and complex sometimes.
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And in Africa where you have multiple branches, different wives or multiple wives or maybe some you didn't really marry but they gave you children.
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Those complexities happen.
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And then maybe even blended families.
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So maybe the wife divorced, the husband divorced, and then they met themselves somewhere, got married.
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I mean, marry other people.
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And then I have children coming from my own, you know, first marriage.
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The other person has children coming from his own.
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So you bring your blended family and then you also have children.
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It can be as complex as complex can be.
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Because families are dynamic, the solution for each family will look different.
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However, fundamentally, you must have a system in place at the family level that helps you with that decision making.
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So, for instance, at a point where you're writing your family constitution, you can say things like, one person can be a representative of every branch and be represented on the board of the business.
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So, meaning every branch is represented, depending on how many they are.
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Sometimes it may almost feel as if on the side of the fathers is an ego problem.
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They're not willing to let go.
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Yes.
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Yeah.
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In fact, there's one that the parents are in their 70s.
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And the main struggle is the fact that I think the parents are simply just trying to protect the business and be able to have enough funds before they pass.
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They don't want to make the young people to make mistakes so that it kills the business.
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Then, you know, at 70, they can't work.
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There's nothing.
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Yes.
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Right?
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Yes.
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So sometimes there is ego.
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There is fear.
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Okay.
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Imagine you started a business in your 30s as a young man and you built it and today you are 75.
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And your child is coming on board.
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So you've spent a significant part of your active work life building this thing.
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This was your baby.
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Okay.
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So you had natural baby in form of your children.
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Now this business is also your baby.
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But a sentiment, sentiment, there is that attachment, that emotional attachment.
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Which is why I say sometimes it's about each party really just understanding where each person is coming from.
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And let's give ourselves some grace.
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It's tough on the part of the older generation as well because there is that struggle of, I hope they don't mess it up.
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I hope they can do this thing.
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I hope if I step away.
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things will not crumble.
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But you see, I always say to people, start your succession while you're still in there.
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Because the moment you're looking at putting succession plan in place, when you step out, there's no way you won't have heart palpitation.
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There's no way you won't sabotage what you're trying to do.
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Because you will give them the the position, but you won't give them the authority.
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What's the difference?
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Oh, there's a difference.
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I can give you a role.
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I can call you my succeeding MDCEO.
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But every major decision still goes through me.
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Oh, yes.
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Oh, yes, it's happening.
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Oh, yes.
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So if any money is going to be signed out of the organization, it comes to me.
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So at the end of the day, you're more like a... You're working for me.
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Apart from working, you're just there as a figurehead.
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You know you don't have authority.
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And that frustrates the younger generation a lot.
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Because they didn't feel like, okay, you're still running this show.
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How about you just come back and take your thing?
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Since you will not allow me to run this show.
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Do you see?
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So there is a way we work around this with our clients.
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How do you do it?
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So there is the angle of family governance and there's also the angle of succession planning, which double as transition planning for the founding generation, the patriarch or the matriarch as the case may be.
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Now on the family governance side of things, they are already practicing how to make decisions at the family level.
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You have the family constitution drawn up.
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Yep.
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which is like the guidebook, the rulebook that says this is who we are, this is how we do things, this is how we make decisions, these are the do's and don'ts, you know, this is how we take ownership, these are the things we will never invest in, this is how we will never be represented, this is who we are, these are our values, all those things are there.
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Right now, that family constitution drives the family in terms of how they even take, you know, run their own meetings.
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So they have board meetings.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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So there's a family council that is set up.
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That's the governing body within the family of which the children are a part of.
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So there's already role play happening at the family level before they get to the point where they now work in the business.
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Or the father is thinking of handing over to maybe the child or the children as the case may be.
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Now, secondly, as you prepare the children, perhaps maybe while they're still in school, they're doing their master's or maybe they've already started working somewhere.
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One of the things you can immediately start to do is to get them to be part of the board, even if they are just there as observers.
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So they understand how decision making is made.
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They even understand daddy in the boardroom, not daddy at home.
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Do you see what I mean?
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They understand how business decisions are processed.
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What are the things that are big consideration before business decisions are taken?
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So they've been part of that for years.
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By the time they are there to take over, they already understand certain things.
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Some things are not just shocked to them.
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Another thing also is even from the point where your kids are maybe in primary secondary school during their summer, whatever, bring them into the office.
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Let them do internship jobs or whatever.
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So my jobs doesn't work in the business.
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Let them get familiar with the business.
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That naturally even builds their interest.
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And you see this hiccups that we always find at a point where the father is trying to transition to the son and the son is wondering, does he even want me?
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Does he respect my ideas?
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Does he whatever?
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It's because you're coming into that thing.
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It's just like husband and wife just getting married.
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You know, at the honeymoon phase, everything feels like all rosy.
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But when that phase is off, you know, there is now friction.
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Yes.
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Almost like we're tussling for, you know, and the man feels, no, no, no, I'm the man.
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The woman, yes, I know you're the man, but I'm also your wife.
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Do you see?
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Yes.
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So it's almost as though we are now tussling for authority as it were, or whose voice gets heard.
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Right.
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Do you see?
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That can be managed when you groom from almost the one.
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And you're having communication about business without necessarily having the children in the business yet.
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So once in a while, as a father, ask your children, what do you think about this idea?
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We're trying to expand to Ghana.
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We think that the market there is ready for what we are doing or for our product or service.
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What do you think?
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I'm not interested.
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See what I mean?
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Yeah.
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Do you see?
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So those kind of things, even whether what they are sharing with you, you're going to use it or not, it just feels like, oh, it thinks that what I have to say matters.
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Right.
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It has respect for my thoughts, my views.
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Do you see?
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So when you begin to build that,
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You're going to be able to manage the whole idea of, does he want me, does he not want me?
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Because I have a lot of next gens talking to me.
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And I know that this struggle that you're talking about is very real.
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Some of them actually want to step into the family business, but they just get frustrated.
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Because they feel like, I have a lot to give, but I feel like I'm in handcuffs.
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You know, or I feel like my voice is not respected.
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I feel like I have to prove myself.
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And that alone can be very stressful for some of them.
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Can you imagine going to Harvard to study, let's say, business administration or whatever.
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You come back home to Nigeria, to your father's business.
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And now you have to work with your father.
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He's at home and you always have to go to him.
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for his consent before you can make a decision and your own salary so he's paying you now anything you do you can step on it and say accountant don't pay this guy meanwhile the father's education is not even at the level of yours he's built it from you know from vibes yeah exactly some of these kids are really frustrated is it the culture or the big word trust that is the issue
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It's a combination of many things.
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There is culture.
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There's a part where the father still feels like no matter what, you know, I'm still your father and the child should know when he needs to defer.
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To his father.
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Or whatever it is worth, there's the man's ego that will always be there.
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Just understand, have the wisdom to know when to defer, even though you know what to do.
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At the end of the day, the old man may say, oh, by the way, young man, go ahead with this thing.
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You know what to do.
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Ha.
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Do you see what I mean?
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As opposed to you just feeling fly.
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Like, yeah, I'm now the one in charge.
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So you don't care what the old man thinks.
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Once in a while.
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Secondly, I also feel like the older generation should put structure in place that does not create that woman structure.
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If the younger generation coming on board feels like it's still the man that makes the decision at the end of the day, it feels like a trap.
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to them.
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However, if you have built a business where there is a board that is responsible for decision making, that provides a support system for the young man that is coming on board.
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Because at the end of the day, even if the father is the chairman, he knows that just one vote does not make a decision.
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Javiola, in the example I gave you from the beginning,
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husband and wife they didn't go to school okay so there's no question of board or no board who is the board okay now is the husband and the wife that is the board they are doing their own thing it's okay and to them because they don't have high education level that's why they took the kids to school abroad so in that case right in that case how do you how do you institutionalize such a business so i have
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people, next gens who have come to me, who have found themselves in similar situations, what they are now trying to do is to put that board that I spoke about in place, among many other changes that they are trying to put in place.
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Now you will get a lot of pushback.
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00:09:33.801 --> 00:09:34.802
you would get a lot of friction.
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There was a reason they didn't even consider putting a bolt in place in the first place.
149
00:09:38.385 --> 00:09:40.667
Fear of, I don't want anybody all up in my business.
150
00:09:41.188 --> 00:09:42.709
I don't want people knowing what I'm doing.
151
00:09:43.089 --> 00:09:45.411
I don't want somebody coming to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing.
152
00:09:45.591 --> 00:09:47.053
I know my business well enough.
153
00:09:47.573 --> 00:09:49.135
They don't have appreciation for those things.
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00:09:49.575 --> 00:09:51.597
You've gone to school.
155
00:09:51.657 --> 00:09:53.278
You've gone to the business schools around the world.
156
00:09:53.318 --> 00:09:54.699
You understand governance.
157
00:09:55.420 --> 00:09:57.841
Now you're trying to put governance in place, controls.
158
00:09:57.861 --> 00:09:59.381
You're not speaking this big English.
159
00:09:59.441 --> 00:10:01.942
You're thinking you are better than your parents.
160
00:10:02.022 --> 00:10:02.582
Exactly.
161
00:10:03.082 --> 00:10:07.063
That's why I said there is a place of wisdom.
162
00:10:07.303 --> 00:10:10.624
Sometimes, some of these things, don't try to push it by yourself.
163
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Get people involved.
164
00:10:12.604 --> 00:10:13.584
Get people involved.
165
00:10:14.005 --> 00:10:23.827
So you can create a scenario where you get the parents to agree to have consultants come in to help you think through the next phase of growth for the business.
166
00:10:24.898 --> 00:10:25.278
Do you see?
167
00:10:25.859 --> 00:10:26.999
You know what you're trying to do.
168
00:10:28.060 --> 00:10:31.322
You know the changes that are supposed to be happening within the business.
169
00:10:31.742 --> 00:10:34.144
But coming from you, you're unlikely going to take it.
170
00:10:35.617 --> 00:10:46.906
But coming from a third party that has experience and knowledge and a proven track record of having helped other people build their businesses or scale their business, they're more likely going to listen to it.
171
00:10:47.487 --> 00:10:50.129
So that's why I said borrow some wise heads.
172
00:10:50.629 --> 00:10:53.672
If there is no board in place, maybe you should get a consultant on board.
173
00:10:53.932 --> 00:11:00.798
And that's why I say sometimes some of these conversations are better brokered by an experienced third party.
174
00:11:00.858 --> 00:11:01.338
Right.
175
00:11:01.378 --> 00:11:02.159
Than the kids themselves.
176
00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:03.360
Than the kids themselves.
177
00:11:03.640 --> 00:11:04.301
Absolutely.
178
00:11:05.590 --> 00:11:06.430
I have something for you.
179
00:11:06.570 --> 00:11:06.951
Tell me.
180
00:11:08.291 --> 00:11:09.372
The man has 10 kids.
181
00:11:09.692 --> 00:11:10.012
Okay.
182
00:11:10.712 --> 00:11:12.313
Six of them are different mothers.
183
00:11:13.614 --> 00:11:13.994
Okay.
184
00:11:15.815 --> 00:11:16.755
Big business.
185
00:11:17.195 --> 00:11:20.697
Over 40 million US dollars in revenue every year.
186
00:11:21.937 --> 00:11:22.858
How do they deal with that?
187
00:11:23.858 --> 00:11:26.899
It goes back to the family governance structure that I talked about.
188
00:11:28.040 --> 00:11:30.001
Africans are...
189
00:11:30.021 --> 00:11:30.961
Okay, I won't say Africans.
190
00:11:31.822 --> 00:11:34.543
Families can be very dynamic and complex sometimes.
191
00:11:35.472 --> 00:11:43.783
And in Africa where you have multiple branches, different wives or multiple wives or maybe some you didn't really marry but they gave you children.
192
00:11:45.007 --> 00:11:46.108
Those complexities happen.
193
00:11:46.688 --> 00:11:48.550
And then maybe even blended families.
194
00:11:49.010 --> 00:11:53.953
So maybe the wife divorced, the husband divorced, and then they met themselves somewhere, got married.
195
00:11:54.814 --> 00:11:56.075
I mean, marry other people.
196
00:11:56.495 --> 00:12:00.098
And then I have children coming from my own, you know, first marriage.
197
00:12:00.298 --> 00:12:01.699
The other person has children coming from his own.
198
00:12:01.959 --> 00:12:04.321
So you bring your blended family and then you also have children.
199
00:12:04.761 --> 00:12:06.983
It can be as complex as complex can be.
200
00:12:07.723 --> 00:12:13.107
Because families are dynamic, the solution for each family will look different.
201
00:12:15.328 --> 00:12:25.824
However, fundamentally, you must have a system in place at the family level that helps you with that decision making.
202
00:12:26.305 --> 00:12:38.865
So, for instance, at a point where you're writing your family constitution, you can say things like, one person can be a representative of every branch and be represented on the board of the business.
203
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So, meaning every branch is represented, depending on how many they are.
