Joining forces for family businesses
On 23 March, the Centre of Expertise FAMILY IN BUSINESS was officially launched. This nationwide collaboration focuses on strengthening family businesses by making information and inspiration widely accessible and practically applicable, as well as by offering learning programmes and training courses. During the event, the online starting point for family businesses familie-in-bedrijf.nl(opens in new tab) was also introduced.
The Netherlands is home to nearly 300,000 family businesses. They make a significant contribution to employment, innovation, and broad prosperity. With their long-term vision, regional engagement, and strong value orientation, family businesses play a crucial role in sustainable economic development. At the same time, they face complex challenges, such as business succession, intergenerational collaboration, and balancing family and business interests.
“Family businesses are of immense value to our economy and society, but their strength is accompanied by complexity. That in itself is an additional challenge,” says Eveline Maas, manager of FAMILY IN BUSINESS. “We connect education, research, government, and entrepreneurs, with the aim of strengthening SME family businesses. We make knowledge accessible and applicable, enabling family businesses to remain future-proof.”
Nationwide collaboration
Windesheim University of Applied Sciences is the initiator of the Centre of Expertise and contributes applied knowledge through its Family Business research group(opens in new tab), based on 15 years of practice-oriented research. Together with partners Landstede MBO, the Province of Overijssel, WADINKO, FBNed | Family Business Netherlands, and the Netherlands Guild of Family Business Specialists, forces are being combined to support family businesses.
The core of the Centre of Expertise consists of Windesheim and Landstede MBO. This enables vocational education to take an additional step in embedding knowledge of family businesses into education and in shaping collaboration with family businesses more effectively. During the event, the partnership between Windesheim and Landstede MBO in this field was formally endorsed.
Strengthening family businesses
Alongside the launch of the Centre of Expertise, the online platform for information and inspiration for family businesses familie-in-bedrijf.nl(opens in new tab) was introduced. This platform will make knowledge accessible and provide answers and practical solutions to the challenges that family businesses commonly face.