ICON magazine held its swanky annual ball last Thursday (Apr 13) at Shangri-La Singapore, and took the opportunity to celebrate its 18th anniversary with an inaugural award. The Next Icon awards aim to foster innovation, excellence and leadership among young entrepreneurs and family businesses here and in the region. ICON partnered the SMU Business Families Institute (BFI) to jointly select the winners. SMU Associate Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship (Education) and BFI's Academic Director Kenneth Goh said the BFI actively promotes business families’ interests, builds a community of entrepreneurial next-generation leaders, and supports them in building sustainable, impactful enterprises across generations. “We are delighted to acknowledge the hard work, dedication and innovation of the next-generation leaders, and acknowledge the contributions they have made to their family businesses’ success,” said Assoc Prof Goh.