Family IN Business

Who starts a new family business with a mortgage and kids in college? Entrepreneur Kalpana Waikar of Inspired Indian Cooking, with the support of her husband Sachin Waikar. Listen to the Waikar’s story of familial support systems, pursuing passions, and making strategic goals that fit their expectations of life outside of work.

As the third-generation family business leader, Ariel Bacal faced overwhelming obstacles in his footwear manufacturing and retail business in Colombia and Venezuela: an onslaught of cheaper products, a plunge in currency exchange, and ever mounting pressures from the fashion footwear industry. After countless pivots and desperate measures, it became clear that the only option left was to close the family business.

Zack Richner is ambitious, daring, and thoughtful, just like his grandparents who founded Richner Communications and his father who currently leads the family business. Within the story of family entrepreneurship, Zack Richner leverages his family’s assets to create Arrandale Ventures, an innovative startup that creates a new business model for traditional local media.

When Ian Rosen decided to return to the family business in 2018, Harry Rosen Inc., Canada’s leading luxury men's clothing retailer, was only doing 2-4 percent of their business online. In the months before COVID-19 hit, Rosen and his team were creating a thoughtful plan on how to stay relevant in the e-commerce space. When stay-at-home orders shuttered all of Harry Rosen’s retail stores, the launch of their digital platform became trial-by-fire.

Though Kartik Wahi’s father started a successful OEM business, Wahi wasn’t ready to work for the family business. In this episode, Wahi takes us on his entrepreneurial journey from his days at Kellogg School of Management to discovering the opportunities in solar and the founding and growth of the social enterprise Claro Energy.

Anderson Tanoto saw the potential for his family business, Royal Golden Eagle (RGE), to become a leader in sustainability. Through his journey in transitioning the company into more sustainable practices, Tanoto learned that failure, perseverance, and equity are key ingredients to creating meaningful change.

It was a routine activity that led to a life-threatening accident, a coma, and multiple cranial surgeries. Adam Farver, Chairman of the Board and fourth generation of his family enterprise, Pella Corporation, found himself eavesdropping on doctors who doubted his full recovery. Faced with frightening questions about his future, Adam took stock of his life before the accident, consulting his late great-grandfather and grandmother’s wisdom: what would he do now?

Along with their younger sister Melissa Steiner, Stephanie Jackson and Kimberly Paxton-Hagner are co-owners of their multigenerational family enterprise, Kwik Lok. If you’ve ever bought bread, tortillas, or apples in a bag, you’ve already used their product! Their grandfather, Floyd Paxton, invented the plastic closure tab that keeps food fresh and tracks the supply of many of our favorite foods.

As the brainchild of Kent Johnson’s great-grandparents, Highlights for Children has been an explicitly purpose-driven company from its inception. A passion for serving, honoring, developing, and educating children informs every decision made in this family business. Purpose is so ingrained at Highlights for Children that the in-house newsletter is called “The Purpose,” and the company even has a Chief Purpose Officer!

Enrico Leta expected to continue to lead and work in his family enterprise, a highly successful regional chain of high end supermarkets started by his Italian immigrant grandfather. But he did not expect that the second generation—Enrico’s father, aunts, and uncles—would decide the best future for their family business rested on leaving the third generation to find their own ventures.