Celebrating The Second Family Business Week

Family businesses have, for successive generations, offered a model of how leading responsible business operate; putting people at the heart of their business, training their workforces, supporting local supply chains and suppliers, using their land and natural resources sustainably, investing in and supporting the communities in which they operate and on whom they rely. Family businesses haven’t tended to shout about it. They’ve just got on with it.  

Family Business Week is a celebration. A celebration of the people, communities and places that make family businesses the cornerstone of our economy and society. While family businesses themselves are often humble about their achievements, this week-long celebration is designed to ensure their importance, work and contribution is now properly recognised.

Family businesses are the bedrock of our communities, and backbone of our economy. In the UK they employ around 14 million people, generate a quarter of our GDP and pay nearly £200bn in tax. They offer a model of responsible and sustainable business that needs to be acknowledged, supported and championed; a model of business others can be part of, work with, even adopt.  And they need regulation that allows them to plan for the future, incentivises them to invest for the long-term, and helps our economy to grow and society to prosper.

Throughout the week we’ll be celebrating the individuals and businesses that make this sector so special, shining a light on those who are a force for good in their communities.  And we hope you’ll get involved by championing those family firms you know and love.

The IFB represents growing a network of family businesses from across the UK who want to create a more prosperous and sustainable future for generations to come. Now, more than ever, the voice and model of family business needs to take centre stage and show how business can truly have a positive impact on society, the economy, our environment and the regulatory landscape for the benefit of generations to come.

Thank you to everyone who is backing the campaign this year, and to our Principal Sponsor NatWest, who are generously supporting Family Business Week for a second year.

This is your opportunity to unashamedly champion and celebrate the sector. To champion the many thousands of family firms up and down the country, large and small, start-ups and multi-generational family enterprises, representing all sectors and walks of life. And to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution they make to our economy and society. 

You can find details of how to get involved and be part of that movement here. We look forward to celebrating with you.

Neil Davy,

Chief Executive Officer, IFB