The Advantages
"You can get exposed to many disciplinaries and many departments of a business at an early stage when you're working for your family, are at your highest learning curve and eager to learn," says Dexter Lau.
Lau is the executive director and third generation leader of Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated Bhd, a public listed company that is the largest consumer packaged goods distributor in East Malaysia.
In a conventional job role, Lau explains that most professionals start their career "curious" and "hungry" to learn, but would most probably only have the capacity to work on a specific job role of a company and master said role in order to move up the ranks.
Contrast this with a family business, where Lau says he was able to dip his feet in all aspects of the business to develop his skills at a much faster rate.
This proved crucial to him in his formative years, one that enabled him to immerse himself in the organisation as he one day planned to take over the reigns and grow the company further.
Also see: Dexter Lau and Yee Tsai Siew's wedding