The first CEE Family Business Regional Conference was held in Budapest
Governments in Central and Eastern Europe should support the work of family companies, creating more successful regulation of this specific business sector.
This was the main idea, that gathered family organizations from Central and Eastern Europe at a Regional Conference in the Hungarian capital Budapest, where an Association of Family Business in Central and Eastern Europe was found. Key objectives of the Association are to support intergenerational succession in family companies in CEE as well as attracting the attention of local governments to the family business sector.
"Historical events during the past 20 years made business environment in our countries very identical. In the next decade all family companies formed after the political changes in the 90s of last century, will face the difficult transition from founder to next generation, "said Hristo Iliev, President of the Association of Family Business in Bulgaria - "The latest data show 60% of GDP and 50% of jobs on the continent to provide a particular family of companies. Moreover, they are the ones who largely formed the middle class in the CEE countries. These factors make it our responsibility to develop local economies. On the other hand the problems that we have today are significantly different from the agenda of the family business in Old Europe, where the continuity is not interrupted by hundreds of years. ".
International experience shows that only 30% of family companies to transfer business from the first generation to be successful. Ensuring a smooth succession in family business in the next ten years will seriously affect not only the family companies themselves but also the overall economic and social picture of the CEE countries Therefore, one of the most important goals of Eastern European Family Association is to encourage governments in these countries to recognize the family companies as fundamental to the economy.
