The family business is a fundamental part of the Catalan economic and business fabric, but also a reality that goes far beyond figures. It is territory, it is continuity, it is employment and it is the transmission of knowledge and values between generations. With the aim of placing this reality at the center of the debate, ASCEF, EY and The New Barcelona Post are promoting En Clau Familiar, a new itinerant cycle of conversations that will travel to different parts of Catalonia to give a voice to entrepreneurs, institutions and local agents.
The cycle will consist of three in-person meetings, which will take place in Osona, Reus and Girona. The first will be held on October 27 in Osona, and will be followed by two more sessions, in Reus and Girona, throughout November and December. The meetings will also be held with the close collaboration of business organizations and entities from each territory: the Consell Empresarial d’Osona (CEDO), El Círcol de Reus and the Cambra de Comerç de Girona. Each session will focus on a specific dimension of the family business and will combine an initial intervention with a conversation between companies from the territory. The sessions will be presented and moderated by journalist Jofre Llombart.
Beyond the in-person meetings, En Clau Familiar aims to generate content with reach and reach a wider audience through chronicles, digital content and short audiovisual capsules linked to each of the sessions.
Osona: family business and territory
The first stop of the cycle will be Osona, on October 27, in a meeting that will revolve around the relationship between family business and territory. The session will be held in the Sala Torras i Bages of the Seminari de Vic and will have the collaboration of the Consell Empresarial d’Osona (CEDO).
The day will feature institutional representatives from the territory, an inaugural conference by Gemma Vivet, CEO of Grup Gepork and president of CEDO and another by Rosa Tous, corporate vice president of TOUS and president of ASCEF, and a conversation starring Francesc Giné Sabata, CEO of Grup Gepork, and Julià Ferrer, general director of Frigorífics Ferrer.
The meeting will address how family businesses contribute to generating economic activity, employment and cohesion in the territories where they were born and developed their activity, as well as their role as agents involved in the evolution of the local economy.
Reus: the challenge of generational succession
The second meeting will take place in Reus, on November 18, with generational succession as its central theme. With the collaboration of El Círcol de Reus, the session will address one of the great challenges for family businesses: ensuring the continuity of the business project and managing the handover between generations.
The conversation, featuring two prominent companies from the region, will allow for sharing experiences and reflecting on the coexistence of different generations within the company, changes in leadership models, and the preparation of new generations to assume responsibilities.
Girona: people at the heart of the family business
The cycle will conclude in Girona, on December 1, with a session dedicated to talent and the role of the employee within the family business, with the collaboration of the Girona Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber Chair of Family Business at the University of Girona.
The conversation between two prominent Girona companies will focus on the relationship between family, business, and people, addressing issues such as talent acquisition and retention, corporate culture, and the role of teams in companies with their own history and values.
Three territories, three perspectives on the same reality
With En Clau Familiar, ASCEF, EY, and The New Barcelona Post aim to contribute to creating a space for conversation around a business reality especially rooted in Catalonia. Three territories and three themes will allow for exploring different dimensions of the same phenomenon: how to preserve and evolve business projects that have passed from generation to generation and, at the same time, form part of the economic and social fabric of their territories.
Each meeting will combine an institutional and content part with an open conversation with family businesses and, subsequently, an informal networking space among attendees.
The sessions will be in-person, and the most relevant content will also be transferred to the digital environment through The New Barcelona Post, with chronicles and audiovisual pieces that will allow the conversation to extend beyond each meeting.
En Clau Familiar will thus kick off its first edition, aiming to give names, experiences, and concrete voices to some of the great challenges faced by Catalan family businesses and to assert their role as an economic, social, and territorial actor.