EMB
AT A GLANCE
Legacy is a hot topic for first generation corporations, not only
in terms of succession and continuing the company vision, but
in making a lasting impact on the societies that many young
firms remain so strongly connected with.
If you want to change the world it’s time to get a grip on legacy
building. Why? Philanthropy is broken and almost everyone
knows it. What’s more, global forces are wiping out any impact by
the global charities. Steven Sonsino highlights the emergence
of a new generation of altruists – the legacy builders.
WHAT’S YOUR
Legacy?
BY STEVEN SONSINO
W
hat’s your legacy? What are you passionate about?
If your family is secure and your business is secure, how
are you spending your time? What do you want to be known
for? What legacy will you leave? These are all questions that
play on the minds of business owners the world-over. Or if
they don’t, they should—and nowhere does this ring truer
than within the walls of first generation corporations. In a
company’s early years, focus centers almost exclusively on
turning a profit or expanding footprints, and understandably
so. But with attention resting on growth and financial security,
the importance of legacy is all too easily over-looked, forgotten
about until, in some cases, it’s too late.
For others, legacy is at the forefront of their minds from the
start. Rami Makhzoumi, the young CEO and President of first
generati on corporation, Future Pipe Industries, was one such
leader. It was December 2009, I was in the UAE as part of a legacy
project to serve young leaders in the Middle East, and we were
walking between four-meter-high fiberglass pipes at the plant in
Dubai that Rami’s father Fouad had acquired years before.
Unusually, Fouad ceded succession to his son early. Rami
became CEO in his early twenties and it became obvious he was
skilled in long-range thinking. In his first five years in the role,
Rami grew the business more than five times over, restructuring
it worldwide and expanding into Africa, the Far East and the
United States. He took the business to the edge of an IPO in
which the company was valued north of US$1 billion.
WITH ATTENTION RESTING
ON GROWTH AND FINANCIAL
SECURITY, THE IMPORTANCE OF
LEGACY IS ALL TOO EASILY OVERLOOKED, FORGOTTEN
ABOUT UNTIL, IN SOME CASES,
IT’S TOO LATE.
“Where is this leading?” he asked me, as we finished discussing
the year ahead. Puzzled, I asked him to explain. Suddenly,
we were talking about not just the coming 12 months, but
the next 30 years. With his family and his business secure—
and in the scheme of things the global recession only
temporary—he wanted, he said, to change the world. The only
question was how.
He was keen to share his expertise and experience with young
leaders in the emerging economies. He was already a big
sponsor of the Young Arab Leaders group in the Middle East.
His vision was ambitious.
EMBreview.org 43