Amirudin (second from left) at the launch gambit of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Family Business Summit 2022 in Petaling Jaya. With him are Eddie (left) and Dr Mohar (right)

Selangor government will pay greater attention to improving entrepreneurial capital and capabilities, as well as assisting new and growing family businesses to be more resilient and sustainable.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said various mechanisms and support systems should be strengthened via collaborations between the government, industries, universities and communities.

These, he said, included resource management, risk management, preventing or reducing business failures, enhancing family governance, successful ownership, management succession and intergenerational wealth transfer, among other critical success factors.

“Entrepreneurship development as both a concept and activity has been growing in importance in all states across Malaysia.

“The perceived importance of entrepreneurship to the growth of Selangor’s economy is evidenced by the sheer amount and variety of supporting mechanisms and policies that exist for entrepreneurs, including funding, physical infrastructure and business advisory services.

“However, there is a lack of understanding of family entrepreneurship and family business development, particularly in the aspect of multi-generational sustainability, longevity, and continuity of family-owned enterprises,” he said in his speech while opening the 2nd Asia-Pacific Family Business Summit 2022 in Petaling Jaya.

Also present were BinaPavo founder and president Dr Mohar Yusof and Yayasan Selangor chief executive officer Eddie Ahmad Khodzali.

The summit was organised by business advisory firm BinaPavo.

This year’s summit with knowledge partner Sunway University, focused on next generations of family businesses and how they are moving forward to achieve sustainability, in line with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Amirudin said the concept of family business was the oldest form of business structure and still a relevant business structure today.

“Almost 70% of total business establishments in Malaysia are family-owned and they come in various sizes, from small to large conglomerates,” he said.

He added that in line with SDG number 17 – Partnerships for Goals – Selangor government and Yayasan Selangor were happy to support the summit this year alongside BinaPavo and Sunway University’s Institute for Global Strategy and Competitiveness.

“Interestingly, Sunway University is a family-owned conglomerate. In addition to the direct contribution of the institute to this summit, I would like to also acknowledge the contribution of the Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development, which has developed the SDG Assessment for state level called SDGs for Malaysian states,” said Amirudin.

He said the assessment was an interactive platform that assessed SDG performance of the 13 states and the Federal Territories.

“This website leverages the methodology and performance thresholds used in the Sustainable Development Report produced by the SDG index. Through it, we can get insightful findings about state-level SDG performance,” he elaborated.

He highlighted Yayasan Selangor’s efforts and steps taken to achieve its vision, mission and objectives which were aligned with SDG number 4 – Quality Education – and SDG number 17 – Partnerships for Goals.

“I urge family business owners, next-generation leaders and employees to support and contribute towards the Yayasan Selangor Education Endowment Programme which will finance activities related to education, talent and skills of our future generation and leaders,” Amirudin added.

Meanwhile, Dr Mohar said more than 100 participants were physically present at the summit which was live-streamed online with partners from Asia-Pacific and Europe.