Highly ambitious and eager to take the lead, the next generation (NextGens) of family businesses in Vietnam see themselves driving their company forward in a disruptive future, but only with greater trust and empowerment from the current generation, according to PwC.

Results from PwC’s “Global NextGen Survey 2019 – Vietnam in focus” revealed nearly half of Vietnam NextGens (44%) already play an active part in their family business; this is much lower than the level of engagement recorded across Asia Pacific (73%) and globally (70%).

On a positive note, this is an encouraging number given that the great majority of NextGens in Vietnam are between 21 and 34 years old, and a further 27% plan to be involved in their family business in the next five years - twice the global and regional ratios of 13%.

Looking ahead to deeper engagement, NextGens also hold high ambitions to lead change in their company in the next five years. While today 16% of Vietnam NextGens are executive directors, the number is likely to more than double by 2025 to 38%.

Such ambitions are supported by the fact that 60% of NextGens in Vietnam have confidence in their capabilities to add the most value in professionalizing and modernizing management practices in their business. This is also their immediate top business priority for getting their enterprise fit for the future, alongside upskilling staff. It is apparent that as digital natives, future leaders of Vietnamese family businesses are very conscious about the role of technology and their own digital advantages.

With experience of many years working with family businesses in Viet Nam, Hoang Hung, Entrepreneurial and Private business Leader from PwC Vietnam stated: “NextGens in Vietnam are anxious to prepare themselves for leadership in a more complex future. They share a great concern to develop experience and expertise and are looking to the incumbent generation to enable their full potential with trust and support.”

While it is positive news that NextGens in Vietnam are ambitious and committed, their current prospects are still narrow with only around a third of them being given the opportunity to lead (compared with 52% of regional counterparts), similar to the number of NextGens who can be heard and sought out as a sounding board for new ideas.

Vietnam NextGens perceive top two major constraints holding them back from making their desired impacts: lack of experience (41%) and the current governance in their own family business (33%).

These constraints are stronger among NextGens in Vietnam than in rest of the region and the world. This also corresponds with their lesser extent of opportunities to lead mentioned above.

Peter Englisch, PwC Global Family Business Leader commented, “NextGens are a diverse group in terms of their needs and ambitions. They require an approach that is built around understanding their needs and ambitions, and this survey provides an important guide to the next steps they should take.”

PwC’s survey identified four distinct personas of NextGens followed by recommendations for each persona that can help them further grow in their respective carriers, including transformers, stewards, intrapreneurs, and entrepreneurs.

Source: PwC's survey.