FABUSS – “FAmily BUsiness Successful Succession” – is a 24 months ERASMUS YOUTH project which aims at helping youth related to family business become able and effective successors. Its target group consists of 20-29 years old persons who wish to take over their Family Business at some point in the future. These aspiring successors need skills and knowledge to effectively develop the business by applying new innovative strategies, including extension of their markets, through networking and cooperation with similar enterprises in other countries. The project’s objectives are: 1. To Identify and highlight best practices for training and supporting next generation family business leaders 2. To equip next generation leaders with required knowledge, skills and networks – national and international 3. To strengthen next generation leaders’ knowledge and skills, by exposing them to transnational good practices, expertise and team work with target group members from other countries. 4. To support the longevity of family business, their renewal and internationalization in order to enforce their socio-economic contribution. The FABUSS partnership is composed of nine (9) partners from six (6) countries: Greece (Coordinator), Bulgaria, Cyprus, FYROM, Italy and Portugal. In all these countries, family businesses constitute a very high percentage (in most cases over 75%) of total businesses population. The main expected results are: (a) Identification and analysis the regional needs in the field of family business succession and young entrepreneurship; (b) Creation and implementation of an ICT tool (Platform) to improve the level of entrepreneurial skills and the knowledge of young people in the process of succession of their family business; (c) Support strategic planning and facilitation of family enterprises, based on realistic processes, to mitigate risks of failure in their succession and management; The FABUSS project will implemented in 4 phases, structured in a way so as to ensure effective linkages and complementarity among its various activities. These phases are: • Phase 1: Identified and/or Perceived Skill Gaps and Training Needs Surveys and Reports • Phase 2: Training Materials and Infrastructure, including multilingual handbooks on identified priority family businesses related issues, case studies, multimedia material and a customised e-Learning platform. • Phase 3: Pilot Training Workshops and Evaluation, including “Learning circles” pilot workshops in all partner countries, transnational activity groups and intergenerational group meetings and discussions. Finally, • Phase 4: “Lessons learnt” – Sustainability Report. At the end of the project’s 2nd year, with most of the project intellectual outputs completed or in their final stages, the partnership will reflect on the “legacy” that FABUSS could leave behind for all participating organisations (partners and stakeholders involved directly or indirectly) to take stock and decide on initiatives that could ensure the project results’ durability, maintenance and sustainability. This “legacy”, appropriately disseminated, could also provide ideas and materials to organisations in countries outside the partnership, which could facilitate initiation of similar programmes addressed to young entrepreneurs interested in undertaking ownership and management of family businesses. The project is expected to impact significantly on participating organizations, young people, policy makers, local communities, as its major objective is to narrow the existing knowledge gap, provide awareness on key concepts and opportunities and equip young successors of family businesses with the needed tools to pursue successful entrepreneurial activity. After the project’s completion, FABUSS partners intend to maintain connections created, while the training materials and methodologies will remain available to any number of members of the direct and indirect target groups, to help even more people profit from the knowledge developed. Partners have agreed to keep the project’s e-Learning platform regularly updated for 3 additional years, after the project implementation. Actively seeking and securing resources necessary to maintain the results of the project after the funding period already is explicitly incorporated in the administrative tasks of all FABUSS partners. In particular. They are committed to the objectives of the project, as they realize its importance and added value upon young people and the development of the youth entrepreneurial sector in the participating countries. This implies that, making all efforts necessary to maintain the results and to continuously strive for sustainability, will become an important part of their everyday activities and long range planning.
The FABUSS Project (FAmily BUsiness Successful Succession) was co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme – KA2 Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices – Strategic Partnership for Youth. The project started on 1st February 2017 with a total duration of 24 months. It aimed at helping young people (18-35 years old) who wish to take over their family business and become able and effective successors. The partnership of 9 organisations (https://www.fabuss-project.eu/partners/) from 6 countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, FYROM, Greece, Italy and Portugal), with the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (www.acci.gr) as Lead partner and Coordinator, having in mind that these aspiring successors need skills and knowledge to effectively develop their businesses, set the following main objectives: •To increase young peoples’ awareness of benefits that family businesses may have for their own career planning, •To identify and inform prospective family businesses successors of problems that might emerge during and after transition and of how these could be overcome, •To promote efficient and effective transition of family businesses ownership and management, and •To upgrade family business successors’ operational, innovation and leadership skills, thus enabling them to maintain past achievements, introduce modern management approaches and promote their competitiveness and growth potentials. The achievement of the FABUSS project’s objectives was ensured through the organisation and implementation of a series of activities in partner countries and the delivery of the following products: 1. FABUSS Surveys: Two Surveys were conducted: One on the “environment” for Family Businesses in partner countries and a Second one on Skill Gaps and Training Needs of those who wish to take over their Family Business. Six National Reports were delivered, accompanied by a Synthesis with Executive Summary in all partners’ national languages. 2. Six Modules of Innovative Training Material developed along 3 Axes: 1. Awareness of family business management issues, 2. Preparation of effective next generation leaders, 3. Structuring effective governance and business succession mechanisms. All Modules were translated in partners’ national languages. 3. FABUSS e-Learning Platform, hosting training materials and accessible to registered Family Business successors. 4. Legacy Report, investigating and presenting the project results’ sustainability and development prospects, after its completion, in partner countries and beyond. All FABUSS products and deliverables have been uploaded on the project’s multilingual website: www.fabuss-project.eu The project reached some worth mentioning achievements: •210 young people, who wish to take over their Family Business, participated in training sessions in partner countries. •20 Trainers attended Training of Trainers Workshops. •89% of training participants consider the training offered to be “very useful”, 94% think the experience gained is “valuable”, 85% declare more confident to consider Succession Planning. •15 “Successors”, from different partner countries, participated in online Transnational Learning Exchanges. •182 people, of the “previous” and the “next” generation, participated in Intergenerational Workshops in partner countries. •More than 528,000 people were reached through “information dissemination” activities organised in partner countries. In order to investigate the long term sustainability prospects of project results and the factors and policies conditioning such prospects, selected stakeholders were interviewed in the partner countries, commented on the project results and proposed policy measures that may contribute to successful succession. Analysis and interpretation of interviews material are presented in the project’s Legacy Report. Some key points are: •Without exception, all those interviewed, support the idea that the project’s products and results should be retained, maintained and developed. •Results should be widely disseminated and the associated benefits for Family businesses be shared with new target groups and potentially in more countries. •Sustainability of project products and results will depend on the effectiveness of a range of “support measures and structures”. These include active engagement of actors such as Chambers, Associations or even specialised entities, initiatives for continuous monitoring of family businesses’ knowledge and skill gaps and of associated training and coaching needs. Support services may extend to provision of special incentives for family businesses to make use of available services. •While most of the suggested initiatives relate to the so-called “supply side”, a lot of importance is also placed on the “demand side”, mainly emphasising the need for more users to be considered as potential beneficiaries. In this sense, both “generations” should be targeted, rather than only actual or intended “successors”.