At the launch of the Business Families Institute (BFI@SMU) on Wednesday, panellists were invited to share their family business succession stories to the 350-strong crowd at SMU. One of the panellists was Dr Robert Yap. After more than 30 years under Dr Yap's leadership, YCH Group has grown to become a leading supply chain and logistics firm in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Yap hopes that BFI@SMU can offer business families advice so that they need not sell their enterprises because of the lack of a succession plan. Another panellist was Dr Stephen Riady, executive chairman of Overseas United Enterprise. He is the second son of Indonesian tycoon Mochtar Riady, who built a family empire which now develops hotels, resorts, malls and residential projects. Taking a leaf out of his father's book, Dr Riady is putting his son through the same regimen he went through by working from the bottom up.