Young business leaders warned of toughest ever economic environment

The next generation of Cypriot family-business leaders is facing a uniquely volatile environment, requiring a shift toward tech-driven leadership and emotional intelligence.

This was the key takeaway from a high-level roundtable discussion in Nicosia, where senior executives from the island’s leading corporations met with emerging entrepreneurs to discuss the future of the local economy.

According to a report by InBusiness, the event was part of IMH’s year-long Gen Z & Millennial Project, an initiative designed to bridge the gap between established institutional knowledge and the fresh perspectives of young business owners.

The discussion brought together senior executives from PwC Cyprus, Bank of Cyprus (BoC), European University Cyprus, Cablenet and Lexus Cyprus (Toyota), who exchanged views with young entrepreneurs and spoke of the pressures facing a generation expected to steer family firms through transition.

Opening the discussion, PwC Cyprus CEO Philippos Soseilos said the organisation had chosen to back the initiative because it saw it as an investment in Cyprus’ future. “We certainly have a lot to share with you as Organizations,” he said.

As PwC, he said, “we invested and are investing in this project, because it is like investing in the future of this place. You are a generation of entrepreneurs who have an important role to play in the transition of your businesses to the field of technology and AI”.

At the same time, he noted that younger business leaders are also being asked to manage succession, including its emotional side. “We know that succession is not a specific world, but a journey with many stages,” he said.

Soseilos said actions such as the roundtable were an investment in helping participants accelerate value for both their family businesses and the wider economy. “We as PwC have the ambition to act as catalysts and accelerators of change and succession and we are at your disposal to help you,” he added.

From the BoC, manager of large corporate centres Ireni Yiannourou said the bank remains closely linked to the country’s business community and recognises the importance of the new generation of entrepreneurs.

“BoC today is intertwined with the business world of Cyprus,” she said, adding that, as a bank seeking to evolve and adapt to a changing environment, it also understands the importance of younger business leaders.

She said it was encouraging that the new generation “really has a lot to give”, adding that it had already shown its value. “I believe that you are worthy and equal to previous generations and I believe that you have a lot to give, both to your businesses and to your partners,” she said.

Yiannourou also stressed the importance of keeping those relationships two-way. “We are here to listen to your opinions, ideas and concerns, as well as your suggestions,” she said, adding that the bank wanted to work with young entrepreneurs to improve conditions for businesses, entrepreneurship and the wider economy.

For his part, European University Cyprus chief executive and council chairman Christoforos Hadjikyprianou said the university sees itself playing a dual role: educating the new generation while also listening to it and learning from it.

“We as a University have a dual role in this effort. On the one hand, to educate the new generation, and that is what we are doing, and on the other, to communicate with the new generation, to listen and learn, because everything is really changing around us,” he said.

He said those shifts go beyond technology and AI, pointing as well to the reality that organisations now have four generations of employees working side by side. “Believe me, each generation has its own particularities,” he said.

“You cannot motivate people from different generations in the same way,” he added, noting that each also has different priorities.

As a result, leadership itself is changing. Today’s leader, he said, needs creativity, adaptability and empathy, because “the problems that employees carry every morning are different and we are called upon to manage them”. Leadership qualifications, he added, are changing too.

“We ourselves are learning from you and you must learn from everyone here, from us, your colleagues, but also from younger generations and employees, because things change daily,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cablenet CEO Ioannis Mavridis said that although the company is relatively young at 23 years old, it is already in its fourth ownership and has therefore experienced generational change repeatedly.

“Although we are a relatively young company we are already in our fourth ownership and have probably changed generations more quickly than a family business, but we have been through this stage many times,” he said.

That process, he noted, inevitably brings changes in targeting, strategy, priorities and capabilities, along with a number of challenges.

As a service provider, Cablenet deals with people from all generations and must ensure it can respond to their needs, he said. At the same time, because it operates in technology, it also has a duty to make new developments understandable and accessible.

“We also have the responsibility to translate and transform technological developments from something specialized to something affordable and accessible to our customers,” he said.

Mavridis added that many Cypriot businesses are facing a similar test. “We believe that the average business in Cyprus is also facing a similar challenge and we are here to help in any way we can,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Lexus Cyprus, general manager Constantinos Ioannides said a company with six decades of history and now in its fourth generation understands first-hand the pressures facing younger family-business leaders.

“Coming from a sixty-year-old company, being in the fourth generation of the family continuity of the business, we feel what you feel,” he said.

Still, he added, much of what applied in the past no longer holds. “Many things that were valid before are not valid today and sometimes what we are faced with is very different from what our parents or previous executives experienced,” he said.

In his view, the current generation faces the toughest environment yet.

“I believe that today’s generation is called upon to face the greatest difficulties, since the changes are numerous, rapid and intense, wars, Covid, difficulty finding personnel, and require constant vigilance and adaptability,” Ioannides concluded.