INFLUENCERS FORUM RBt: Rebecca Blott RBe: Robert Beasley OB: Oliver Butts
JC: Jack Clipsham TR: Tamara Roberts JW: Jo White
Tamara, at Ridgeview Wine Estate, most certainly a family business as I know that it was started by your father. And you now run it as CEO with quite a few of your family involved. Are there more advantages than disadvantages in a family business? TR: I’ve worked at Ridgeview for most of my working life. Certainly those common values and an aligned purpose, along with the commitment and determination to make the business work, are things that are shared across a lot of people, not just the entrepreneur who started the company. There’s a sharing of the burden, and keeping each other going when the times get tough. Because when it does get tough, there’s nowhere to turn. RBt: I see it as a massive advantage, Often people think that my husband and I working together means we must be at loggerheads. Quite the opposite is true. There’s a mutual respect, which you have to have. There have been companies that have been managed and owned by family members where that hasn’t worked. For us, it is that set of shared values that you have together; that you’re all pulling in the same direction. And that includes our young children who are already interested in what we are doing at work. OB: A lot of it depends on the individual family. If you’ve got skill sets that complement one another, and you can get on harmoniously, then it’s certainly an advantage, because you will have that shared ethos, identity, drive and determination to make the company succeed. That said, I’m sure we’ve all heard of countless businesses where it’s gone on to the next generation, having been split between three or four siblings, and the business has fallen apart. In our case, my father founded the business, and I’ve got two brothers, and neither of them are involved in the business in any capacity, because my father knew that it wouldn’t work out. So it’s my wife, my father and I who now run it. And that works well.
The UK family business sector ❛❛ earned more than £1.9 trillion in
revenue in 2018, 44% of the private sectors total turnover ❜❜ 72
www.platinummediagroup.co.uk
In a family business, it can be very good, but there is a downside. Tamara do you find that you can go home and not talk about business? TR: It’s hard not to when I work with my husband. Both my boys have started to work in the Hospitality Group as well. So even from them I get stuff about what’s going on over there! I am fairly conscious of that, and if it gets too much, I say, ‘right now, we’re not talking about that anymore.’ But it is such an important part of our life. So in a way to not talk about it would be just as odd as to talk about it. And sometimes, getting stuff off your chest can be quite useful. Jack, have you come across the trials and tribulations of family businesses? JC: I have this issue at home because on the one hand, I’m a professional corporate financier with a career of 30 years. On the other hand, I’m a husband of a wife who owns her own beauty salon, and who has spent the last two months rebranding, refurbishing and investing quite a lot of money into it to build her business. The difficulty I face is when she comes home and she starts talking to me about it. Am I supposed to be wearing my ‘professional corporate finance’ hat, or my ‘husband’ hat, or the ‘listening’ one as opposed to a ‘Mr. Fixit’ hat? Woe betide, Jack, if you get the hat wrong…! JC: I often do! It’s not easy. It’s fantastic to be able to have that family environment where you can offload and you can talk to each other and support each other. I’ve seen it where that closeness has actually been the value behind the business which has enabled it to grow. But I do think it is a bit of a minefield. One business that I’ve got happens to be second generation; it’s a business that works in logistics and haulage. The parents set it up originally, handed it over to three sons, the eldest of which is very much involved with the business. But the other two have got roles within the business without them being key to it. So we’re now in a process of marketing that business for sale. We can present it very well but it’s on the basis that there is one person who is key to the business but wants to exit. We have two other people who are less key to the business who also want to exit so it’s trying to explain to potential buyers who see senior management stepping away from that business. Lots of intricacies there.
