22th Jan, 2016

Succession, talent attraction keep family business up at night

Succession planning and professionalising the business are the key concerns of local business families, going by responses to PwC and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s report. The report found out that 64.7% of family businesses in Singapore cited attracting talent as the biggest challenge, followed by succession planning (54.1%). Mr Paul Loo, Group CEO of Focus Network Agencies (FNA) agreed that the next generation should work their way up from the bottom. Mr Loo leaves it to his four children to decide the business functions they are interested in. His daughter, Ms Pamela Loo, currently FNA’s Director, mentioned that she and her siblings are all very different. In terms of areas of interest, strengths and weaknesses, she feels that there is a very clear distinction in terms of the areas they will each venture into. Ms Loo also shared that there is no power struggle amongst her siblings, that it is really about fairness and what is objectively good for the company.