In the area of Corporate & Family Governance, Meta Octav provides clients the tools and strategies to manage both corporate structures and family dynamics effectively, ensuring long-term success, stability, and alignment with the family’s values and business objectives. Governance structures are critical for business continuity, wealth preservation, and conflict resolution, especially when family members are involved in the ownership or management of family businesses or assets.

Below are the specific services we offer in the Corporate & Family Governance area:

1. Corporate Governance for Family-Owned Businesses

• Establishment of Corporate Governance Framework: Developing a customized corporate governance structure for family-owned businesses to ensure clarity and transparency in decision-making processes, aligning business operations with the family’s values and goals.

• Board of Directors Setup: Assisting in setting up a Board of Directors, which includes both family and external independent directors to provide a balance of family involvement and professional expertise.

• Board Governance & Meeting Protocols: Creating governance policies and setting clear meeting protocols, decision-making procedures, and reporting requirements for the board to follow, ensuring the smooth running of the family business.

• Shareholder Agreements: Drafting shareholder agreements that address key issues such as ownership structure, rights and responsibilities of shareholders, dividends, and exit strategies, and ensuring fair treatment of all family members involved in the business.

• Family Business Constitutions: Establishing a family constitution that sets out the principles, values, and vision for the family business. This document can address everything from family involvement in the business, succession planning, to conflict resolution.

• Succession Planning for Family Businesses: Developing clear succession plans for the business, ensuring that future leadership transitions are smooth, fair, and aligned with the business’s strategic goals and family values.

• Conflict Resolution Mechanisms: Creating formal mechanisms for resolving disputes within the family or between family members and non-family executives, ensuring conflict prevention and effective mediation.

2. Family Governance and Leadership Development

• Family Council Setup: Setting up a family council as a formal governance body that facilitates communication, decision-making, and oversight of family business and wealth. This body serves as a platform for the family to discuss important issues such as business strategy, inheritance, and values.

• Family Governance Framework: Creating a formal family governance framework that outlines the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of family members in business and wealth management. This framework ensures clarity and reduces the risk of internal conflicts.

• Leadership Development for Heirs: Offering leadership training and education programs for the younger generation to prepare them for future roles in the family business or foundation. These programs can include mentorship, formal education, and hands-on experience.

• Family Education Programs: Organizing workshops and educational sessions for family members on key topics such as wealth management, family governance, and the history and values of the family business, ensuring that the next generation understands their role and responsibilities.

• Family Retreats & Vision Meetings: Facilitating regular family retreats or vision meetings to foster communication, unity, and long-term goal setting. These gatherings allow family members to align on the family’s values, mission, and vision for the future.

3. Shareholder & Ownership Governance

• Shareholder Agreements & Voting Rights: Drafting shareholder agreements that establish clear guidelines for the governance of a family-owned company, including voting rights, dispute resolution, and exit provisions.

• Family Trust Structures: Setting up family trusts to hold shares in family businesses, ensuring asset protection and creating a governance structure where trust leadership oversees business interests on behalf of the family.

• Family Ownership Transition Planning: Providing strategies for transitioning ownership of family businesses from one generation to the next, which may involve buy-sell agreements, stock buyback provisions, or the sale of shares to non-family members under specific conditions.

• Equity Ownership & Dividend Distribution: Developing a structured approach for equity ownership and dividend distribution among family members to ensure fairness and alignment with family goals.

4. Governance for Trusts & Foundations

• Trust Governance & Trustee Services: Providing professional trustee services for family trusts, ensuring that the trustee adheres to fiduciary responsibilities while managing family wealth or family business interests effectively.

• Family Foundation Governance: Designing governance structures for family foundations, which may include the establishment of foundational boards or advisory boards with family members and external experts to oversee the foundation’s activities, ensuring that the family’s philanthropic vision is executed properly.

• Governance of Purpose-Based Foundations: Setting up purpose-driven foundations with clear guidelines and goals to address specific causes, such as education, health, environment, or human rights, and structuring governance to maintain continuity of purpose.

• Monitoring & Accountability: Ensuring that trustees or foundation managers are held accountable by developing reporting mechanisms, financial audits, and performance reviews to ensure transparency and proper use of resources.

5. Governance and Risk Management for Family Enterprises

• Risk Management Strategy Development: Assisting in the creation of a family enterprise risk management framework that covers areas such as operational risk, reputational risk, legal risk, and financial risk, ensuring that both the family and the business are well-protected against unforeseen events.

• Insurance & Liability Protection: Advising on appropriate insurance structures to protect the family business and individual family members from personal liability, corporate risks, and market fluctuations.

• Governance of Family Investments: Providing oversight and management strategies for family investment portfolios and private wealth funds, ensuring the family wealth is preserved and grows according to agreed-upon goals.

• Compliance & Regulatory Guidance: Offering expertise in compliance with local and international laws and regulations that affect family businesses, including financial regulations, tax laws, and corporate governance standards.

6. Governance Systems for Family and Corporate Entities

• Decision-Making Processes & Mechanisms: Establishing formal decision-making processes and procedures that govern how both family business and personal wealth decisions are made, ensuring that the family’s interests are aligned and minimizing conflicts.

• Family and Business Relationship Management: Creating frameworks that help manage the relationship between the family and the business, including clear boundaries between family life and business operations, while fostering collaboration and mutual respect.

• Communication Frameworks: Establishing formalized communication channels within the family and between the family and the business, ensuring all stakeholders are informed and have the opportunity to voice concerns or suggestions.

7. Succession & Exit Planning

• Family Succession Plans: Developing comprehensive succession plans for the family business, addressing leadership roles, ownership transfers, and exit strategies to ensure continuity of business operations and family values.

• Exit Strategy for Family Members: Structuring exit strategies for family members who wish to divest from the family business, such as through buy-outs, stock repurchase agreements, or divestiture to external buyers.

• Intergenerational Wealth Transfer: Establishing plans for the transfer of wealth to the next generation, ensuring the family’s values and business legacy are upheld, and minimizing taxes and legal complications.

8. Professionalization of the Family Business

• Separation of Ownership & Management: Helping family businesses develop a clear separation between ownership and management roles, allowing the family to step back from day-to-day operations while still retaining control over business decisions.

• Hiring Non-Family Executives: Advising on recruiting external professional managers or executives to run the business, providing expertise in governance, operational efficiency, and long-term growth.

• Family Governance Committees: Creating specific committees or working groups (e.g., investment committee, audit committee, succession committee) that handle key governance issues, leaving strategic decisions to a broader family governance body.

9. Family and Business Legacy Building

• Philanthropic Legacy Planning: Helping family businesses develop philanthropic goals and a long-term legacy plan to support charitable causes, ensuring the family’s social impact aligns with their values.

• Brand & Reputation Governance: Providing guidance on maintaining the family’s brand reputation and business values, especially as the business grows, becomes more complex, or expands globally.

• Long-Term Visioning: Facilitating the development of a long-term vision for the family business or wealth, ensuring that multiple generations are involved in shaping the future direction of the business and legacy.