Last Thursday, the Lubas company in the representation of the Board and representatives of the Marketing Department had the honour of participating in the Family Business Forum organised by Forbes magazine. The invited guests, that is, the winners of the best family-owned businesses award from the Mazowieckie and Podlaskie provinces, as well as the partners of the event, i.e. Millennium Bank, GWLAW, LPP, Dun & Branstreet and FBN Poland – all attended the meeting.

It was hosted by Łukasz Grass, while the guests were welcomed by Paweł Zielewski, Forbes’ editor-in-chief. The meeting was divided into two parts: the discussion panel and the ceremony of awarding prizes to selected companies.

The discussion section covered the issue of the challenging and uneasy situation family-owned businesses found themselves in during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main topic was an aggressive expansion or defending the status quo: how family businesses should find their way in today’s turbulent world. It was pointed out that the past 18 months had been a challenging time for companies, but it had also been a time of readiness for change with quick decisions being made. The discussion panel was attended by: Andrzej Glinski, the member of the Board of Directors of Millennium Bank, Piotr Grabowski of Grabowski i Wspólnicy Kancelaria Radców Prawnych, Adam Demusiak of Head of M&A, Bogumiła Jankiewicz, founder of Aquael, Jacek Rozwadowski, CEO of Centrum Medyczne ENEL-MED.

Family businesses have a survival model embedded in their DNA. Finding opportunities, making instant decisions, and implementing change are all part of everyday life for multigenerational companies acquired with experience. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic changes, many businesses, including companies, moved to a hybrid model. The search for new solutions and their rapid implementation began. With increased digitization and cloud solutions, employees were able to move to remote work overnight. Manufacturing companies introduced new rules according to the announced restrictions, switched to the production of a new range of products. Companies were also after some new forms of development funding.

On the other hand, in Piotr Grabowski’s experience, family businesses have been taking more daring steps and going beyond their region of operation. Opening up to online sales, partially re-branding or manufacturing products for current demand are the main features of companies that not only survived the pandemic but grew at a rapid pace.

Pandemic time has also proven to be a great time to upskill employees. The pandemic accelerated digitization by 5 years, with the resulting workforce development and growing e-commerce market.

In the latter part of the discussions, Łukasz Chomin, CEO of CompuTec and Andrzej Barański, FBN representative, also presented their point of view.

In the second part of the ceremony, awards were given for the best, most valuable and reliable family businesses from the Mazowieckie and Podlaskie provinces. Dun & Branstreet analysed the companies using the Swiss method and took into consideration all the family-owned businesses that adapted to the prevailing pandemic in the most efficient manner and the ones that further improved and opened themselves to new opportunities and changes.

Lubas, as one of 211 selected companies in the Province, had the honour of participating in the Forum and, as one of the ten entities, received the prestigious Forbes award for the best family business. We are pleased even more so since this award came as a great surprise and is granted by an independent, worldwide Forbes magazine.