The Importance of Coming Together When We Have to Stay Apart

Family Businesses -The Importance of Coming Together When Staying Apart - Introducing our new online community platform for family businesses.

5 years ago, in early November, I arrived at W5 for our first ever family business event. Little did I know how that event would be the catalyst for the NI Family Business Forum, with another 16 events since, hosting over 200 family businesses from across Northern Ireland.

The businesses who attended that day shared their experiences and their stories and I quickly realised that the HM team and Ulster University had together created something quite unique, an essential space for family businesses to make powerful connections and engage in thought provoking conversations and a whole new way for family businesses to connect.

What everyone seemed to like most was being able to relate to others in the room who were experiencing the same issues and challenges that are felt amongst many family businesses, knowing they were up against the same troubles but equally could use the platform to celebrate the same triumphs.

Over the last 5 years we created a community. We met, we learned, we shared, we enjoyed being with people who had a passion and a purpose to discuss common interests. We enjoyed shaking hands, giving welcome hugs, sitting at a table together and standing only inches apart. And how could we have known what an impact Covid-19 would have on our ability to do this most basic of human interactions.

As someone who has organised professional events for over 20 years, I never imagined how this could simply not happen as many of my colleagues working in Marketing and Event Management did too.

So the world turned to Zoom and other ways of communicating with people and for me, it was a novelty for a while, but being a very social person and thriving off being with others, Zoom gloom quickly set in as I’m sure it did for many. I missed, and indeed still miss my colleagues from the office and I miss the many businesses I was meeting face to face for many years.

And if I missed the people I was bringing together, I was sure they missed each other as well -the camaraderie, the connection and the coming together of a business community that we had created.

Our guests shared with us how much they appreciated the privacy of our events, which were open to family businesses only, providing them with an exclusive space to share in confidence.

After the initial aftershock of lockdown, we set to find a way to continue to provide this for family businesses across NI which has led to the creation of the NI Family Business Forum online community platform.

This private space gives family business owners and executives the opportunity to continue to connect in a private, secure space. Whilst we will be providing information and guidance within our content library, most crucial is how the platform encourages connection, shares news and gives a platform for engaging, sharing and learning from and with each other.

We have also set up a member offers section, to family businesses can share offers on the products or services they offer to other members, and a message facility to enable networking and reaching out to fellow members.

We believe in the power of community we could encourage all family businesses to join us and be part of this formidable group of family businesses. Communities are all about 2 way communication and this unique platform provides a way to come together, even when we are still apart.

The platform is completely private and invite only. o receive an invite to join please contact me, Treena Clarke – [email protected]

Harbinson Mulholland has a strong focus on working with family businesses in Northern Ireland and has built a solid reputation and track record of helping family businesses maximize financial performance, whilst balancing commercial challenges and family obligations

For more information visit www. Harbinson-mulholland.com