As partners of Family Business United (‘FBU’), Western Pensions Solutions (‘WPS’) are delighted to be sponsoring their flagship national event, The Great British Family Business Conference that is taking place in London on March 12.
The annual event draws members of the family business together from all over the UK to hear from leading family business owners and their advisers who provide real insights into the evolution of businesses and the challenges they face along the way. As Ben Fowler, Managing Director of WPS explains, “This is an inspirational event for the family business community and each year there are some passionate family business owners sharing their story and passing on personal insights on a whole range of topics from succession planning and the engagement of the next generation to branding, protecting the family name above the door and good governance.”
“Each year sees different perspectives and we are proud to be associated with this great event that is a real showcase for the best of British family firms.”
The 2020 event is being opened by George Vestey, the Chief Executive Officer of Vestey Holdings, the fourth-generation, family-owned business, with origins stretching back to the 1890’s. Today, Vestey Holdings primarily invest in food companies operating in various segments of the industry and whilst their core activity is food they have also developed the WPS pensions consultancy which provides strategic advice to family businesses on how to manage their legacy final salary schemes. As custodians of these companies, they’re not about the short term – their core aim is to build and improve them for future generations.
Other keynote speakers include Giles and Niki Fuchs, Matthew Fleming, David and Nick Miller plus Jenny Urquhart and Simon Cotton from Johnstons of Elgin. Key themes for the conference this year are around family business as a force for good. There are also workshops on key themes that include building the management team to achieve the vision, cyber security and the skills required by the next generation of family business leaders. The day also includes an exhibition and plenty of time for networking too.
As Ben concludes, “The Great British Family Business is an event that really highlights the contribution family firms make to the UK economy and identifies different approaches that families in business have taken to some of the unique challenges that arise from the very fact that they are family firms. It really helps to put the family business community on the map and we are looking forward to another great conference this year.”
The Great British Family Business Conference 2020 takes place at The Royal Geographical Society on March 12, 2020. Find out more about the speakers, agenda and book tickets here
