The true test of wealth isn’t how it’s built, but whether it can endure generational change and the shifting forces of the market.
Recently, I brought an all-female delegation of Chinese business leaders to Spain for an executive roundtable on family wealth and succession planning. What began as an exchange of expertise became a broader conversation about legacy, innovation and the future of family enterprise.
Families in Spain and China may operate in different business cultures, but they face similar questions: how to pass businesses on to the next generation, preserve what took decades to build and adapt without losing their identity.
I see an opportunity to connect Spain’s expertise in family-business succession and family-office governance with China’s perspectives on innovation, technology and investment. We should be looking at what these two worlds can learn from each other.
We talk a lot about competition between China and the West. We talk far less about what we could learn from each other.
Spain has expertise it can export
Family businesses account for 92.4% of Spanish companies and generate around 70% of private-sector employment, according to the Instituto de la Empresa Familiar.
Spain has deep expertise in succession planning, family governance and preparing the next generation to lead. There is an opportunity to bring this expertise to a wider international audience, helping families navigate generational transitions and establish or expand their presence in Europe.
As significant wealth transfers reshape the global landscape, Spain can position itself strategically through focused initiatives such as executive masterminds and bootcamps.
True succession strategy is not simply about deciding who inherits a business. It is about shaping what comes next — creating a legacy that serves not only the family, but also the wider economy and society for generations to come. What Spain can learn from China.
The opportunity goes both ways. China’s experience in technological innovation, robotics and AI offers perspectives that Spanish family businesses and investors should take seriously.
As AI evolves from a tool that generates content to systems capable of executing tasks and coordinating workflows, family businesses face important decisions about how to adapt. ESG and responsible investment raise similar questions about how capital can support long-term resilience while creating value.
Spain brings its own strengths in governance and long-term business stewardship. Neither country has all the answers. That is precisely why the exchange matters. The opportunity is not to choose between tradition and innovation. It is to bring them together.
Turning dialogue into opportunity
The most valuable exchanges are those that leave room for new relationships to take shape. Working with Amber Shuya Chan of Hödi Communications, I brought together perspectives from both sides of the conversation, including Alex Ibáñez Bordes of Víros Capital, Mar Güell Blasi of Kreab Spain, and Nely Mayoral of Andbank. Their contributions reflected Spain’s experience in navigating family wealth, governance and succession — and the potential for that expertise to resonate well beyond its borders.
The delegation also brought together women working across investment, philanthropy, family offices and responsible business, with connections to organisations including the China Guangcai Foundation, China Charity Federation, Shenzhen Center for Innovative Corporate Social Responsibility, Shenzhen Family Office Association, China ESG Research Institute and Taikang Stars Association. What mattered was not simply that women were in the room, but that they were helping shape the questions, relationships and opportunities under discussion.
The opportunity now is to turn this exchange into something more lasting: stronger connections between Spanish expertise and Chinese business leaders, investors and familieslooking for new perspectives on how wealth can be preserved, deployed and adapted for the future.
That requires moving beyond one-off encounters towards relationships built on trust, shared interests and a willingness to learn from different approaches.
As an American, I found this possibility particularly encouraging. At a time when the relationship between China and the West is so often defined by political rhetoric and competition, dialogue like this offers a different perspective. It reminds us that beyond geopolitics, there is still room for curiosity, mutual learning and shared ambition — and that the most valuable opportunities may emerge when we stop viewing difference as a source of rivalry and start seeing it as a source of insight.