MAPping the Future

For every empire that has fallen, there has always been an underlying problem that empires face. Who to pass the torch to? We all see it in history. Thrones pass from one generation to another but upended when its successor is weaker than its predecessor. Wealth gets accumulated just to be disbursed by leaders who aren’t ready to take the helm.

 

In recent history, we will be experiencing the greatest wealth transfer. In a report by Merrill (a subsidiary of Bank of America), it is estimated that there will be roughly $106 Trillion of assets that will be transferred to their heirs. Majority of the wealth will be given to the Millennial generation who were born from 1981-1996. In the same report, a question is raised, will the heirs gravitated to the same portfolio mix as their predecessors? In the survey Merrill conducted, the heirs are more confident in doing alternative, sustainable, and impactful investments but less confident in traditional investment portfolios. What does this mean?

 

The younger investors are highly likely to invest in companies that are environmental and compliant to ESG ideals where they make decisions that they believe sustainable investing can identify investment opportunities and mitigate risks. Their risk profiles as well as their criteria of investing differ from their predecessors, which in turn create a different investing process for banks and fund managers alike.

 

In the Philippines, we already started to see the succession happening. To name a few, JG Summit, the Aboitiz Group, and San Miguel Corp have started to transfer responsibilities to the younger generation. These Next-Generation leaders have in them the culture of the Filipino where family values are at their core. Values, like sipag or resilience, tenacity or tiyaga, and respect for elders, are a few of what they bring to the table in their respective board rooms.  This is the mindset that goes into the companies that these NextGen lead. This is how they will take care of the generational wealth.

 

JG Summit has already been taken over by Lance – the son of the famous John Gokongwei, Jr. He has instituted changes in the way they do business and invest. They have sold Sun Telecommunications to Smart Communications and Robinsons Bank to BPI. Each instance, JG Summit has received cash and shares, in turn invested, or bought Rustan’s grocery chain and created a new high-end mall with Opus Mall. These are instances you see how Lance is changing the way JG Summit does its business.

 

It’s the same way we see in the succession of the Sy Family in how the children are shaping the SM Group. They are slowly adopting to community-based strategies in their malls and expansion. They are investing in vertical and horizontal industries of their subsidiaries adding to their growing portfolio. Similarly, the Aboitiz Group has been leaning towards ESG investments and technology-driven solutions to their investments – UB on its mobile banking, and expanding in the Wealth Management through the acquisition of Citibank operations in the Philippines.

 

Each time, we see the heirs of the founders have steered not just profit but a seemingly more value-driven investments. We see that their portfolios include strategies that involve ESG and a drive to a community mindset where they develop not just their core business but elevating its supply chain and its stakeholders to a higher standard. If this continues, the NextGen leaders will create more impact than the founders envisioned their portfolios to have. Let us see what transformational change can be brought about with the leadership style they have slowly imposed on their respective organizations.

 

In the MAP NextGen Committee, we will be holding a Conference called “Passing the Torch to NextGen Leaders” on November 7, 2025 at Shangri-La The Fort. The audience will learn from the NextGen leaders of the conglomerates in the country as well as how the parent and the children interact in their respective board rooms. The audience will get a glimpse of how successful families manage the transition and the transfer not just wealth but the responsibilities that come with it. The audience will learn through actual experiences of these younger leaders on how to maintain the vision of its founders or elders and own it themselves by adding their own perspective and vision for the companies they manage. Basically, they are the future that have the history of their family in their core.

 

The Conference brings another aspect to transformational and generational shift. The audience will hear the experiences of these NextGen on their ways of navigating the established and shifting it to how they see their organizations should be and where it should be. We will see the “POV” of the kind of transformations that will sweep not just this generation but also the future generations that will come after.  We will hear how cultures are continued yet evolving and adopting to the new norms of being a millennial or managing the behavior of a generation z employee.

 

To paraphrase, this Conference will let you see the start of societal evolution that will take a few generations to profoundly understand and comprehend. We will use the symbol of fire not just the spark of that fundamental cultural evolution but also the torch as a symbol of continuity, like that of the Geeks or the Olympics. Imagine an orchestra playing songs by Tylor Swift will not just surprise your mind but gives you a new perspective – that the old can adopt to the new.

 

We all have to navigate this new world thinking where demand will be changing. As a professional, we will need to contend with a different criteria and mindset that will translate into not just investments but policy and risk management. We will create new business models that create value rather than just profit. We have to contend the new threats like cybersecurity, trade wars, and global shifts.

 

(The author is member of the NextGen Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).  He is President and General Manager of Trans-tec International Marketing Phils. Inc. Feedback at <map@map.org.ph> or <jerahmeel.chen@gmail.com>).