Services
Family Business & Succession
Planning the next chapter of a family or founder-owned business — succession, ownership transition, governance and, when the time comes, a sale.
Overview
Succession is the most consequential decision most family businesses ever make, and the one most often left too late. We help founders and families set out their options — passing the business on, bringing in an investor, or selling — value the business independently, and put in place the governance that keeps the business and the family intact through the transition.
Clients are founder-led and family-owned businesses across manufacturing, logistics, distribution, agribusiness and services, often with family members in several countries. Many have been built over decades and are approaching their first generational transition.
Capabilities
- Succession planning
- Shareholder and family governance
- Business valuation
- Partial sales and investor entry
- Exit preparation and sale
- Next-generation leadership transition
Who this is for
Founders, family shareholders and boards of owner-managed businesses planning a generational transition, a partial sale or a full exit.
What you receive
- Succession and ownership options with the trade-offs set out
- Independent valuation and family governance framework
- Support through transition, investor entry or sale
How the market is changing
A large generation of founder-owners across Africa and the Middle East is approaching retirement at the same time as private equity and family-office interest in established mid-sized businesses is growing. Families that prepare early have real choices; those that wait often have one.
How to start
A first conversation is confidential and free. If this is the right service for your situation we will scope it in writing before any work begins.
Common challenges
Problems we're regularly asked to solve, and how
The problem
The founder wants to step back but there is no agreed successor, and the family disagrees about what should happen to the business.
How we address it
We set out the options objectively and facilitate a decision process that the family and the business can both live with.
The problem
The ownership structure is informal, and no one knows what the business is actually worth.
How we address it
We formalise the structure with your legal advisers and provide an independent valuation as the basis for any transition or sale.
The problem
Family and business decisions are mixed together, creating conflict and slowing the business down.
How we address it
We design family governance — a shareholder agreement framework, a family council, a board with independent members — that separates the two.
Process
How this engagement unfolds
- 01
Confidential discussion
We start by understanding the decision in front of you, the constraints around it and what has already been tried — confidential, free of charge, no obligation.
- 02
Scope in writing
You receive the proposed work, what it will produce, how long it will take and what it costs, before anything begins. The scope sets out the family's objectives, the options to be assessed and the timetable for a decision.
- 03
The work
We value the business, set out the options and their consequences, and work through them with the founder and family.
- 04
Decisions and follow-through
We support the chosen route — successor transition, investor entry or sale — through to completion, and stay available as the new structure settles.
A recent engagement
What this looked like in practice
Anonymized at the client's request — no company or individual is named — but the engagement and the figures below are real and client-confirmed, not illustrative.
Client
A family-owned logistics group in Kenya, preparing for succession.
Challenge
A complex, informally-documented ownership structure and no formal valuation model — the business needed a credible, defensible number before any conversation with a buyer could start.
Our approach
A full engagement covering due-diligence support, building the valuation model, and a buyer-introduction strategy — run alongside the founder rather than handed to them at the end.
Result
A $29M exit at a 22% premium to the group's last valuation. The founder transitioned into an advisory role with the new owner rather than exiting the business entirely.
Contacts
Who leads Family Business & Succession
Start a confidential conversation
Tell us what you are trying to decide. If we are not the right people for it, we will say so and point you to who is.