The Success Through Succession Programme Celebrates Completing its Journey in the Six Southern Border Counties of Ireland

Tuesday, 10 July 2012 10:23

The Success Through Succession Programme celebrated completing it programme of activities with the 22 participant companies from the Six Southern Border Counties of Ireland with the launch of a case story booklet on 6^th July in the Nuremore Hotel, Co. Monaghan with guests including the participant companies, mentors and experts, programme partners and sponsors.

The event was opened with an overview of the STS Programme to date and how the programme has addressed family business succession that not only has significant implications for growing and sustaining family businesses but also how fundamentally important it is for local economies considering the wealth and social contributions they make.

The key note speaker for the event was Dr. John Teeling Chairman of the 162 Group and founder and former Chairman of Cooley Distillery who imparted his vast experience in family and non-family business giving pragmatic advice in how to continually drive a business forward, particularly in the context of succession.

Dr John Teeling, Chairman of the 162 Group and former Chairman of Cooley Distillery Keynote speaker addressing the STS Programme Closing event.

Other guest speakers included a family business practitioner Mr John Hughes, MD of APT Safelink, who discussed his own experiences with his family business in terms of succession planning with his wife, brother and three children currently working in the business and how his MBA Thesis, whose subject matter was on family business succession, assured APT have a detailed plan in place that is under constant review.

John Hughes, MD APT Safelink, “Succession plans in place, and under constant review”

Dr Naomi Birdthistle, University of Limerick MBA Course Director and Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Family Business, gave an informative and grounded insight into her research into family businesses but also was able to relay her own personal experiences of the challenges of succession within her own family business.

Dr Naomi Birdthistle, University of Limerick, focused on research into family business coupled with personal experience

Facilitated by Cathy Booth, of the BDO Centre for Family Business and the STS Programme team, the event also had an interactive dimension to flesh out the ‘Key Learnings’ from the participant family perspective through the younger generation and the senior generation and from the professional advisor perspective through the mentor panel who were represented across all of the mentoring thematic areas.

‘Key Learnings’ of the STS Programme: The Senior Generation

‘Key Learnings’ of the STS Programme: The Mentors

‘Key Learnings’ of the STS Programme: The Younger Generation

Mr Philip Mackeown who travelled from Cork to support the STS Programme discussed his experiences with the Musgrave group, selected to represent his family branch on the Musgrave Group Board since 2005. As a Family Council member he was also able to give insight into his own involvement the Musgrave Family Constitution. Educating the next generation was high on the agenda for Musgrave which Philip demonstrated to the attendees with the overview of the family team educating the next generation of 70+ family owners at Musgrave. Philip is also the founder and Executive Director of the Family Business Network, Ireland and indicated that while in its infancy there will be opportunities in the future for Irish family businesses to join and utilise this network in the future.

Philip Mackeown, focused on Musgraves a 6^th generation family business, and future opportunities: the Family Business Network

The event was closed out with and overview of the enterprise support programmes and activities carried by the Regional Development Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology followed by an outline of the learning journeys of the STS Programme participant companies and the official launch of the STS case stories, which are stories of the specific issues faced by the organisations, the key individuals involved, and demonstrates how each participant company has come to benefit from engagement with the STS Programme support as a result of the company engaging on the programme.

The STS Programme is a collaborative partnership between Dundalk Institute of Technology, Glasgow Caledonian University, being led by the University of Ulster with an aim to strategically assist family owned SMEs across Northern Ireland, the Six Border Counties of Ireland and the West of Scotland. The programme is part funded by the INTERREG IVA cross border programme, Scottish Enterprise and the accountable Departments in both Ireland and Northern Ireland and is managed by SEUPB.