EY: Despite lack of family business tradition, Romania gets ready for second generation of entrepreneurs to take over family companies

Romania does not have a tradition when it comes to family businesses, even if such businesses represent a large portion of private companies in Romania nowadays and a second generation of entrepreneurs gets ready to take over family businesses, according to EY. “In Romania, family businesses have gained momentum in the interwar period, but discontinued their entrepreneurial mission too early to develop a tradition in this respect. Today family businesses represent a large portion of private companies in Romania,” said Bogdan Ion, Country Managing Partner, EY Romania. Most of the family business in Romania are small-scale, but there are thousands of family businesses that grew and developed with great success, becoming nationally and internationally recognized companies, according to EY, which recently launched its Global Family Business Center of Excellence. “At this point, we are already talking about a second generation of entrepreneurs who are ready to take over the family businesses created during the last 20 years. The transfer is made from a generation of entrepreneurs born and educated before the '90s to a generation that has evolved in a fundamentally different environment, exposed to fast-paced cultural changes,” Bogdan Ion added. With the launch of its Global Family Business Center of Excellence, EY gives access to online know-how and expertise resource: www.ey.com/familybusiness. “Today, 90% of our clients are private or family owned businesses,” said Peter Englisch, Global Family Business Leader at EY. The Family Business Center provides access to the “growth DNA of family business” analysis model, which has among its key areas of focus managing capital, managing and retaining talent, sustaining growth and profitability, balancing risk, next generation planning and effective tax management. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)