Ep. 93: Loutfi Echehade - Maneuvering Business following Crisis

Contact Loutfi Echehade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loutfi-echhade-5b3601/

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:00)
 Hi everyone. Thanks for listening to another episode of Count Me In. I'm your host Adam Larson, and this is the 93rd episode in our series. Today's conversation is between my cohost Rouba, and IMAboard member and financial advisor, Loutfi Echehade. Loutfi is a seasoned financial advisor to family businesses in Saudi Arabia and the region and joins Count Me In to talk about the implications of COVID-19 and the current economic landscape. For advice and how such owners can maneuver their businesses. During these times, keep listening as we go to their conversation now.

Rouba: (00:42)
So, let’s get straight into it. I’m excited to get your insights on the family business segment in the region. So analysts and economists consider family businesses to be the lifeblood of the Middle East region, and crucial to the region’s economic prosperity and stability. Why do you think that is?

Loutfi: (00:59)
Well I mean, you know, family businesses, as you indicated, I mean it represent at least 80 percent, some statistics say 85 to 90 percent of the economy is driven by family businesses. In our region, the largest family businesses are the most critical. They play e a critical factor not only in employment and number of employment, but in contributing to the local economies. So, they drive the whole business, you know, and this is not only in our region. Globally, family businesses really are the main drivers of economic developments, in most of the world.

Rouba: (01:46)
According to the Middle East family survey conducted last year, they found that 78 percent of family businesses report economic environment as their top challenge. How does such a limitation play out when you are facing one of the biggest challenging moments in the economic history since the 1930s, COVID-19?

Loutfi: (02:09)
Family businesses are just like any other businesses. They go through, of course, cycles and they face these kinds of challenges every once in a while. We had a financial crisis in 2007 and in 2008, before that we had the September 11 events, and before that there were a lot of events and major developments in the world. Family businesses, just like any other business, they were able to sustain and maintain their structure and business, primarily because they have certain features that allow them to do that. The flexibility, transparency, level of commitment, long term commitment. But still, they face external pressure, just like everybody else. I work on a number of family businesses in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, and the pandemic, COVID-19 has a significant impact on their operations. So they face the same thing just like any other business. If they are one structure, they can manage to go through these events, major events, and heavy burdens in the future, you know.

Rouba: (03:34)
How equipped are regional family businesses for this huge task and what are some of the best practices you have noticed from your practice?

Loutfi: (03:44)
By their nature, family businesses are family-oriented, family-directed. They have a clear strategic planning, they commit to the family values, the family culture. So there weree ups and downs for most of their lives, business lives. They go through a lot of turmoil, roadblocks, headaches, pressures. If they are really well managed, and have proper structure, and that’s where comes family governance. If they really have proper family governance, that unites them, that puts them together. As I said, they are not like the corporate world, like businesses for profit. They don’t focus just on the short term, they focus on the long term. There is also the level of loyalty. In family businesses you find a lot, of course, a lot of family members being united and being committed, but at the same time, there a lot of non-family members aligned, committed and work aggressively, even sometimes more than the family members. So, you have that combination of commitment to the long term, not to focus on the short term, the willingness, the desire, the interest, and the commitment to continue to the following generation. And then they have the loyalty part which also drives them into the future, and into the long term. The way I see family business, just to give you an example, there are a lot of companies now in our region and globally they are firing people of course. They put people on furloughs or extended long leaves and they cut salaries. The family businesses that I deal with face the same problems, but they manage, you know, in a way, to keep these employees with them because they have been with them during tough times, difficult times, as well as in good times. So they look at them as really part of their commitment not only to their employees but to the society in a whole to the community. And that is a little different from directional-wise, different from other businesses.

Rouba: (06:24)
You noted governance, which was going to be my next question. You’ve been providing advisory to family businesses in the region for many years, how committed are they to governance and do they value it? What has been your experience wit this essential aspect of the sector, as you have mentioned as well?

Loutfi: (06:44)
We are on a journey. In the Middle East, you know, of course you know, if you talk about governance, corporate or family governance, not many people will understand, not many people will really decipher it, if you wish.  Everyone will give you different. It did not really have a lot of meaning. But you know, things have changed, I would say in the last decade, in the last 10-15 years, things have changed. In the corporate side, governance regulators have put governance regulations, protocols to ensure that corporations have proper structures to maintain their operations as well to really ensure that they provide right and correct information. On the other hand, the family governance is also something that is a process, a set of protocols.. Most family businesses they have hurdles they understand it, but if you are to tell me, are they committed to implementing it, that’s still, we still have a long way to go. I know a well-known large number of family businesses, well known family businesses. They have already proper structures, proper family governance structure. They have what we call a family constitution that defines roles and responsibilities of family members who share on the corporate side, either as board members or on the C-suite level. They also have what we call certain committers to ensure that there is proper alignment between the corporate side and the family side, and also defines who can be employed in the company and who cannot, the matter of dividend, conflict resolution issues, succession planning, all these are critical components of ensuring a successful and easy and smooth transition into the following generations.

Rouba: (08:59)
With a GPD contribution of more than 60 percent, workforce contribution of 80 percent, a broad range of sectors including food and drink, manufacturing, construction, education and health, and trillions of dollars in revenue, how will the current situation impact employment within the family business segment in the region, and what are governments doing to support and to mitigate this impact?

Loutfi: (09:25)
Of course, you know, the pandemic, COVID-19, as we said earlier, has significant impact on all businesses, all over the world. In the US, we have unemployment reaching over 14 percent. Although I don’t have statistics on the Middle East, like in Saudi Arabia and the GC, but I see a lot of compani...