Experienced businesswoman and The Sunday Times Non Executive of the Year 2012, Jo Haigh, has been appointed an Ambassador by Families in Business (FiB), the independent go-to support organisation for the UK’s three million family businesses.
A senior partner in boutique corporate finance house FDS Corporate Finance, which has bases in Birmingham, London and Yorkshire, and a partner in specialist training and development business FDS Knowledge, Jo Haigh has twenty years experience negotiating the sale and purchase of more than 300 businesses, specialising in owner managed companies.
“Alongside her impressive credentials, Jo has personal experience, both good and bad, of being in a family business,” comments Dani Saveker, CEO and founder of FiB. “As a FiB Ambassador, she brings unique first-hand insight to the specific issue of governance in a family firm, at a time when getting this right has never been more important, with directors duties and responsibilities being paramount.”
Two in every three private enterprises in the UK are a family business, but only a minority has a current strategy for governance or succession, as Dani explains: “The findings of our latest family business survey are fascinating: 68 percent of private firms and 18 percent of family firms, have no formal shareholder agreements in place. Forty-one percent of family businesses plan to pass ownership and management of the business to the next generation, but over 80 percent of the family firms we asked have no formal succession plans in place at all.
“Our strategy at FiB is to build a network and community of specialists that really understand family firms and the unique challenges facing their owners and managers on a daily basis. Jo’s personal experience of being in a family business positions her to understand and empathise with those impacted by family businesses. In particular we know governance is a challenging area as family businesses grow and develop, and Jo adds an exceptional new dimension to the information, guidance and support available to our community about this. We want to raise the awareness of future-proofing these businesses that contribute so significantly to the UK economy.”