UOB launches scheme to support family-led firms

United Overseas Bank is taking 50 next-generation Asian business leaders to China in November to help them explore opportunities and connect with local business leaders. The exclusive group will discuss business diversification, digitalisation and cross-border expansion.

As part of the initiative, the entrepreneurs from family-led firms will visit Liangjiang New Area’s Digital Economy Industrial Park to learn how companies use technology to design solutions to widen their market reach or to improve customer experience.

They will also visit one of Alibaba’s technology-driven Hema supermarkets to understand how the company is redesigning the retail experience.

Called The Business Circle, the scheme is also open to the bank’s clients, including young entrepreneurs who have built successful companies. These are defined by UOB as entrepreneurs under the age of 40, with businesses of at least S$20 million in turnover.

Family firms are a significant contributor to Asia’s continued economic growth, accounting for 34% of the region’s GDP.

Mr Frederick Chin, Head of Group Wholesale Banking and Markets, UOB, said: “Having worked with businesses across generations, we know that experience, expertise and creativity can take any business to greater heights and we want to help them in that process.”