THE INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT BABSON COLLEGE
Family Entrepreneurship Education from the No. 1 School for Entrepreneurship
HELPING ENTREPRENEURIAL FAMILIES AMPLIFY THEIR CAPACITY TO CREATE GROWTH AND POSITIVE CHANGE FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION THE INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY ENTREPRENEURSHIP (IFE) is Babson’s hub for research, resources, and innovative programming dedicated to entrepreneurial students, alumni, and their families. Babson has long recognized that entrepreneurial families, who through their startups and existing businesses, drive over 70% of global GDP and have the capacity to be the greatest force for the creation of economic, social, and family value on the planet. Yet, family entrepreneurship can be as challenging as it is rewarding. Our unique, research-driven approach focuses on the family dynamics that foster entrepreneurship, building the capacity of individuals to innovate in a family context, and leveraging the practices that successfully develop entrepreneurial opportunities including legacy businesses, startups, social enterprises, foundations, and other forms of family entrepreneurship. With our particular focus on young people, we help entrepreneurial families tap into one of their most valuable resources—innovation from the next generation of leaders. Our global community of entrepreneurial families provides unique opportunities for experience sharing, lifelong learning, and networking.
THE MEAN SIZE OF
BABSON FAMILY BUSINESSES*:
500 EMPLOYEES
* ROUGHLY HALF OF WHICH ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
BABSON: A HISTORY OF EMPOWERING FAMILY ENTREPRENEURS. STRENGTHENING FAMILY BUSINESSES HAS BEEN AT THE CORE OF BABSON’S MISSION SINCE OUR FOUNDING IN 1919. NOTABLE FAMILY ENTREPRENEURS FROM BABSON INCLUDE: Ernesto Bertarelli ’89, Chairman, Waypoint Capital Cyril Camus ’91, President of Camus Cognac Akio Toyoda MBA’82, H’19, P’14 President of Toyota Motors
AN ESTIMATED
70%–90%
OF GLOBAL GDP ANNUALLY IS
CREATED BY ENTREPRENEURIAL FAMILIES.
A MESSAGE FROM LAURI UNION, NULSEN FAMILY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY ENTREPRENEURSHIP
It has been an exciting year for the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship at Babson College. Our programs have grown exponentially—we have more than doubled the engagement in our existing programs and have added many new programs to our offerings. The positive feedback and support we received from students, parents, and alumni validate the strong demand for our work. Babson’s unique, research-driven approach focuses on the family dynamics that cultivate entrepreneurial leadership. Our value is in understanding the challenges that lie at the nexus of business-family-personal and fostering the capacity of entrepreneurial families to create growth and positive change from generation to generation. Babson’s connection to family entrepreneurship since our founding and the depth of current students and alumni with a family entrepreneurship background mean that there is tremendous opportunity for shared learning and connectivity across the Babson community.
OUR LEADERSHIP LAURI UNION Nulsen Family Executive Director
WILLIAM B. GARTNER Bertarelli Foundation Distinguished Professor of Family Entrepreneurship
MATT ALLEN Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
2019–2020 IFE ADVISORY BOARD OF ADVISORS AND STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES » Board Chair: Stephen Martiros ’83, MBA’85, P’21 ’21 » Luis A. Atala P’19 ’22 » Korakot (Nat) Asvalertson MBA’19 » Linda Bourn MBA’11 » Cyril Camus ’91 » Thomas F. Gilbane Jr. ’70 » JoAnn Kocum Nulsen ’81
» Pattamon (Ploy) Pethputong MBA’20 » Ingrid Prasatya P’19 ’19 ’20 » Elizabeth Reed ’19 » Sylvia Shepard MBA’09 » Fazal Ahmed Sheikh P’16 ’22 » Rayhaan Survé ’20
RESEARCH AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Our research efforts are carried out by renowned academics continually working to explore the influence of entrepreneurial legacies within families, as well as the impact of family entrepreneurs on the global economy. The findings of our research have been disseminated at conferences around the world, including: » Family Entrepreneurship and Society Workshop Series, Audencia Business School, Nantes, France » Family Entrepreneurship Workshop, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland » Business Families Institute 5th Anniversary Celebration, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Presentations at Academic Conferences Professor William Gartner, Bertarelli Distinguished Professor for Family Entrepreneurship, presented four important academic papers on topics such as family business as a community of practice, successor entrepreneurial identity, and navigating and negotiating legacies at:
» Academy of Management Meeting, Boston, August 2019 » USASBE Annual Conference, New Orleans, January 2020
Academic Publications Gartner also published the following academic articles and book chapters: » A. Calabro, (Ed.) A Research Agenda for Family Business. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. » Lubinski, C. and Gartner, W. B. (in press). Integrating historical methods and perspectives in family business research. » Gartner and Nordqvist: editorial in Family Business Review, “Literature and the Family Business”
THE STEP (SUCCESSFUL TRANSGENERATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICES) PROJECT is the first ongoing global research study focused on entrepreneurship in business families. Founded in 2005 and convened by Babson, the STEP Project is a global applied research initiative that explores the entrepreneurial process and activities of business families over generations, generating solutions that have immediate application for family leaders. The recently published 2019 STEP Global Family Business Survey, The Impact Of Changing Demographics On Family Business Succession Planning and Governance, elicited responses from more than 1,800 family business leaders from around the world. Forty-eight affiliated universities contributed to this study. Family business leaders responded in 18 languages, from 33 countries, and across five world regions.
MORE THAN 175 SCHOLARS AT 31 AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS, 16 COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS FROM EUROPE, LATIN AMERICA, ASIA, NORTH AMERICA, AND AFRICA
THE WORK OF STEP HAS RESULTED IN:
»17
REGIONAL SUMMITS
»6
»3
PUBLISHED BOOKS
GLOBAL SUMMITS
» 14
»2
GLOBAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCES
PRACTITIONER BOOKLETS/REPORTS
»5
»30 TEACHING CASES
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
STUDENT PROGRAMS
Our programs for undergraduate and graduate Babson students are designed to build the critical tools (including self-awareness, communication, and leadership skills) that will enable the next generation to constructively engage with their families entrepreneurial legacy. These initiatives create vital connections within entrepreneurial families’ while encouraging students to identify innovative ways for them to create economic, social, and family value beyond the traditional business model. Babson’s unique, research-driven approach focuses on the family dynamics that promote entrepreneurship, building the capacity of individuals to act entrepreneurially in a family context.
The Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier Launched in the Fall of 2018, this one-of-a-kind course offers a select cohort of students and their entrepreneurial families an opportunity to access Babson alumni, resources, and programs as they create a new entrepreneurial legacy together. The immersive experience fosters the growth of the family’s social and economic impact by helping families co-create a shared vision that incorporates the next generation.
As one of the institute’s first—and most exciting—initiatives at the IFE, the Amplifier engages not only the students, but also their families, during the students’ entire Babson experience and beyond. Offered last year as a pilot program at the undergraduate level, the Amplifier has now expanded to the graduate level as well. This Fall saw a significant increase in the enrollment of the Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier course, from 20 students last year to over 60 this year. These families meet on campus during our annual Amplifier Family Conference. The two-day conference includes an all-day executive education session conducted by worldrenowned family entrepreneurship faculty at Babson, and a variety of fun, interactive activities that families engage in across generations.
STUDENT PROGRAMS Family Entrepreneurship Learning Community
Launched in Fall 2019, the Family Entrepreneurship Learning Community (FELC) is a unique opportunity for first-year students from entrepreneurial families who seek to connect and build relationships with other students from a family entrepreneurship background. Students learn how to leverage their family entrepreneurship legacy to chart their own path. The FELC offers enriching activities and opportunities for students to develop meaningful connections not just with other students, but also staff and faculty at the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship.
Family Entrepreneurship Mentorship Program This program matches Babson alumni and friends with current students from similar family entrepreneurship backgrounds (such as industry or region). Through these one-on-one meetings, students receive invaluable perspective and relevant guidance from entrepreneurial leaders who understand their unique challenges.
Networking by Industry By far our most popular family entrepreneurship activity, Networking by Industry is a fun way for students and alumni with a family entrepreneurship background to make meaningful industry-focused connections with other family entrepreneurs in the Babson community.
Live Case Study Series The Live Case Study Series offers students an insider perspective of what it is like to be a family entrepreneur. During each event, a guest with a strong family entrepreneurship background presents a challenge they are facing at the nexus of business, family, and personal. In a highly interactive session, students role play to create solutions to the guest’s challenge before learning what the guest actually did.
STUDENT PROGRAMS Family Entrepreneurship Peer Forums
The Family Entrepreneurship Peer Forum is a unique platform for students who come from a family entrepreneurship background to share their concerns and challenges in the zone of personal-family-business that they cannot discuss anywhere else. Meeting once per month throughout the academic year, each forum consists of a group of eight students and a Babson mentor who serves as both a moderator and an advisor. Through the development of trusting relationships and experience sharing, students build their capacity to create economic, social, and family value.
“I would highly recommend the Family Entrepreneurship Peer Forum to future family business successors. It’s a small, close-knit group which offered me a great opportunity to discuss and probe unique family business-related issues that I had never been able to share before. You can open up without feeling like you’re being judged, and know that you aren’t the only one going through these challenges.”
– Korakot “Nat” Asvalerston MBA’19
THE NULSEN FAMILY GIFT The Institute for Family Entrepreneurship
strong desire to engage in the institute’s
is thrilled to announce that a $2 million gift
early efforts to foster the next generation
from Charlie Nulsen ’79 and JoAnn Kocum
of entrepreneurial family leaders. JoAnn
Nulsen ’81 has endowed the executive
Kocum Nulsen also has joined the
directorship at the Institute for Family
institute’s Advisory Board.
Entrepreneurship, enabling the IFE to consistently provide the best in leadership
This gift will allow the IFE to address this
and experiential programming for students
set of needs that are otherwise not
and their entrepreneurial families.
particularly met at a college or university, with a focus on engaging the entire family,
The Nulsen family has been involved in the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship since its inception. Through a customized program that the IFE designed especially for them and their transgenerational family business needs, the Nulsens developed a
not just the student.
INVEST IN OUR MISSION As we continue to support entrepreneurial families through tailored alumni and student programing, research, and awareness building, we encourage donors to contact us regarding their interest in current or potential initiatives.
WANT TO HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF OUR INSTITUTE? CONTACT NULSEN FAMILY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LAURI UNION AT
» LUNION@BABSON.EDU » 617-821-7328 TO JOIN OUR GROWING COMMUNITY, PLEASE COMPLETE OUR ALUMNI SURVEY AT
» HTTP://BIT.LY/IFEALUMNISURVEY
BABSON HAS BEEN RANKED:
1 # 1 #
FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP – U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, 2019
PRIVATE BUSINESS SCHOOL FOR RETURN ON INVESTMENT – PAYSCALE, 2018
babson.edu/ife 03/20 BRNDREP4-492