After you, what happens to your business?

Credits / source: Original filming and editing: the teams credited by their logos in the closing credits, including Starlight. Editorial direction and creation of the GKtv edition, motion design, illustrations and additional postproduction: Agence MALIKA / Malika Studio.

Dr Gabriel Koueni speaks on succession, generational transition and continuity in African family businesses.

Why am I talking to you about succession today? A business can outlive its founder, but can it survive the succession? Hello, I’m Dr Gabriel Koueni, an entrepreneur and researcher working on succession in African family businesses. For more than 35 years, I have worked at the heart of Cameroon’s business world. A fascinating but demanding world, where every day is a hard-won victory in a formidable environment. Where family businesses, which are the most numerous and form the backbone of every economy, are the hardest hit. I have worked closely with the wealth creators behind these family businesses. I have seen ambitious ventures rise boldly, but also collapse when their founder steps back, for lack of planning or a succession process. And yet, these ventures were led by entrepreneurs who succeeded at everything except their own exit. So, for several years now, I have been asking a question that now affects thousands of entrepreneurial families. What happens to the business when the person who founded it wants to hand over the reins? I have met the founders, I have met their children, I have listened to their concerns, their hopes, their misunderstandings and sometimes their conflicts, even conflicts that turn bloody. And I have understood one thing: passing on a business is not simply about handing over shares, assets or a name. It means passing on a history, a culture, responsibilities, but above all, preparing a new generation to become capable of carrying that legacy. And in the next capsules, I will ask you questions that many families still dare not ask themselves. Because inheriting is a right, but becoming an heir is a responsibility.