Tatler House Dialogue: Building family businesses that last with DBS Treasures Private Client

It was a theme that carried into the evening’s panel discussion, moderated by Tatler Singapore Editor-in-Chief Dana Koh. Joining her were Aida Soon, Deputy Group Head of Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance Solutions at DBS; Joshua Koh, CEO of Commune; and Chloe Chan, Executive Director of Prestige by Chan Brothers, whose perspectives brought together the financial, structural and personal considerations involved in taking a family legacy forward.

For Koh and Chan, that responsibility began long before either formally took the reins. Both grew up around their family businesses, yet neither followed a predetermined route into them.

Koh described the furniture factory as effectively his childhood second home, where his grandmother looked after him after school and holidays meant working part-time in the business. Still, he was given room to build experience elsewhere, including a stint as a financial analyst at Bloomberg LP, before deciding to return. “Naturally, I wanted to go back, because that was home,” he said.

Returning did not mean replicating what came before. While Koh inherited his family's discipline around prudence and cost management, building Commune called for a different approach. He recalled convincing his father to spend $40,000 on a newspaper advertisement, which was met with a pragmatic response: “With $40,000, you can buy a machine, and I can see it every day.” For Koh, brand-building was a long-term bet, one he believes is now paying off as Commune gains recognition at home and abroad.

Chan took an even less conventional route. Before joining Prestige by Chan Brothers, she studied law and completed a master’s degree in international law. She similarly credited her family with giving her the freedom to explore her own interests before an opportunity within the business eventually brought her back.

Returning, however, was only the beginning. Both then faced the harder task of proving themselves as leaders.

For Koh, that meant volunteering for difficult assignments. At 27, when a manufacturing director left the group’s Vietnam operations, he stepped forward to run the factory, travelling there weekly despite having recently married. Taking on responsibility when the business needed it, he reflected, helped build his family’s confidence in his ability to lead.

For Chan, that test came with the Covid-19 pandemic, when she took over at Prestige and had to navigate the business through a wave of cancellations and difficult calls on staffing and pay. “That really taught me how to make decisions with no playbook,” she said. While her legal training helped bring structure to the business, she also had to grow more comfortable testing ideas and making mistakes. Delivering results eventually earned her credibility within the family enterprise.

But succession becomes more complicated when viewed beyond the individual next-generation leader. For Soon, one of the risks families can overlook is treating everyone connected to a family enterprise as though their interests are the same.

During the panel discussion, Soon drew on the Three-Circle Model of the Family Business System, developed at Harvard Business School by Renato Tagiuri and John Davis in 1978. The framework maps the overlapping roles of family, ownership and management within a family enterprise, recognising that individuals occupying different positions can have markedly different priorities. A family member running the business, for example, may want to reinvest earnings for future growth, while a shareholder who is not involved in its operations may prioritise liquidity and dividends. Recognising those competing interests, she suggested, can help families understand where tensions originate before they become obstacles to continuity.

Understanding those competing interests is only part of preparing a business for succession. Soon stressed that legal structures such as wills and trusts need to be accompanied by strong family governance, encompassing succession and leadership planning, shareholder agreements and mechanisms for resolving disputes. “The legal structure protects the assets, while the governance protects the family,” she said. “And together, they are able to protect the continuity of the business.”

Ultimately, longevity lies in knowing what to preserve and giving the next generation the foundation to carry it forward.

Following the discussion, guests continued the evening at Tatler House with a networking session. Red and white wines from celebrated Napa Valley winery Robert Mondavi Winery were served alongside still and sparkling Evian, in partnership with Classic Fine Foods Singapore, as guests mingled with the speakers and one another.

Click through the gallery for more event photos.

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