E

nrolling in a master of business administration (MBA) program at 12 years old is an example of one of the sacrifices that progeny of successful business magnates sometimes have to make to ensure the family empire does not fall into the abyss.

'€œI signed up for my first MBA class at the age of 12. Unwillingly,'€ Kishin RK, founder and CEO of Singapore-based private real estate investment company RB Capital Group, said.

'€œMy father said, '€˜I'€™m going to teach you about business'€™. And that was the end of my childhood,'€ said Kishin, at a conference of CEOs held by Forbes. Kishin is the son of Singapore property tycoon Raj Kumar. As a pair, they are the 12th richest person(s) in Singapore.

Kishin, now 30, said he enjoyed his time though. '€œI never look back. I have a lot of fun,'€ he said, adding that his father'€™s plan to make him an entrepreneur before becoming a beneficiary was a good one.

Other executives at the Forbes conference recalled how they were suddenly pulled to run the family business.

Allen Law, CEO of Park Hotel Group '€” the owner of Park-branded hotels in the Asia-Pacific region '€” recalled a time when he was in the United Kingdom and received a call from his father.

'€œAfter my university graduation, suddenly I received a call from my father. '€˜Hey, we just built a hotel in Hong Kong, the Park Hotel. Are you prepared to take the challenge to start the family business in hotels?'€™,'€ Allen said.

Law'€™s family used to own businesses in manufacturing, fashion retailing and real estate. Running a hotel was completely new.

Law, now 33, accepted the challenge and had to learn the nooks and crannies of the hotel business, even taking a job as a bellboy, housekeeper and valet attendant to do so. Under Law '€” the second of three children of Kar Po Law, Hong Kong'€™s 18th richest person '€” the family'€™s hotel business has expanded aggressively and received immense acknowledgement.

Malvinder Mohan Singh, the 22nd richest person in India and current executive chairman of Fortis Healthcare Ltd., was warned from early at an early age that being a billionaire'€™s son would not make it easier for him to enter the company'€™s board.

Inheriting only a stake in drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories '€” before it was eventually sold '€” Singh said the challenges came not only from the company'€™s professionals, but also from the family.

'€œThere were many who wanted to pull you down, professionals within the company, people who still thought you were raw and new and didn'€™t understand business and didn'€™t have the capability to run a large and global organization,'€ Singh said.

'€œWithin the larger family, it was a huge struggle over ownership and shareholdings ['€¦] somebody wanted to take away what was yours,'€ Singh said.

Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, president and CEO of Thai Beverage Public Company Ltd., shared a similar view.

'€œWhen you are talking about a family business, family members always get [their share of] responsibility to work on. But on the authority side, you need to earn by yourself,'€ said Sirivadhanabhakdi, a son of Thailand'€™s third richest person, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

Others think they should prepare their children more for better leadership succession.

Wendy Yap, president and CEO of Jakarta-listed PT Nippon Indosari Corpindo, said she would not pass the family business on to her children before they were ready.

Wendy is the daughter of Piet Yap, one of the founders of Indonesia'€™s biggest flour company Bogasari.

'€œThe baton was passed to me at a time when I wasn'€™t ready, before the age of 21,'€ Wendy said.

'€œI had just graduated. And I thought the timing was definitely not right and the speed at which it was done was not right. I wouldn'€™t do the same to my children.'€