Succession planning is an ongoing issue for family businesses; it challenges most in the sector, even when they have put a lot of time and effort into devising a strategy they think will work.
Succession planning is an ongoing issue for family businesses; it challenges most in the sector, even when they have put a lot of time and effort into devising a strategy they think will work.
Take the Geraldton-based business empire of Barry Humfrey and his wife, Mary, as an example.
Largely unknown in Perth, the Humfreys have created one of Western Australia's biggest regional land development groups and diversified into a number of tangential areas.
Humfrey Land Developments alone would probably get the pair into WA Business News' wealth creators list, if we could pin them down to a value. On top of that, they have Chimere Pearls, Transteel transportable homes, and a recent investment in Broadwater Hotels and Resorts, as well as myriad smaller private property developments.
A few years ago, the Humfreys struck a deal with footballer Peter Bell to become part of HLD. Mr Humfrey said Mr Bell was to be groomed to take over the business, giving him and his wife a planned exit strategy from executive management, and the well-known sportsman a business future after his playing days are over.
That is why Mr Bell was commuting from Geraldton for the early part of this season.
Unfortunately, the best-laid plans can end up like a Dockers' final quarter - spiralling out of control.
Mr Bell has since returned to live in Perth and Mr Humfrey said he was now going to reassess his plans, given the unexpected turn of events.
He doesn't blame Mr Bell, who found the long-range commuting too difficult and wanted to extend his playing career longer than originally envisaged.
Mr Humfrey said he'd probably wait until August, when he could clearly see the results from the financial year, before deciding what direction he should take.
While it's an awkward admission - made to a group of journalists, including me, that HLD had flown up to Geraldton to see the extraordinary development occurring in the Mid West capital - he probably couldn't have a better time to confront such a problem.
Geraldton has all the growth patterns of Perth, albeit on a smaller scale, with housing going through the roof as big numbers of skilled people arrive to take part in the mining boom.
The town's mayor, Ian Carpenter, reckons there are 20,000 housing lots around the city, ready or near ready to soak up demand as the city grows.
Of course, labour availability and building costs are pushing homes beyond the affordability of many, but Geraldton still lags other regional capitals at this stage.
Everyone is waiting with bated breath for the proposed port at Oakajee to receive approval, believing that will be the catalyst to massive investment in mining that will make the current localised boom look small.
Most of the locals I chatted with saw the potential merger of Murchison Metals Ltd and Midwest Corporation Ltd as a positive move that would increase the momentum for the port and mining.
So on the back of that, Mr Humfrey is pretty well positioned, with strategic parcels of development land all about the city.
His diversification into transportable homes appears to have been well timed, given these types of businesses are bursting at the seams around Western Australia to supply the mining sector, mainly to the north.
After a couple of false starts, he's got a pearl production business and retailing operation up and running, with significant input from family members.
While I'm not a jewellery expert, the local version of the black pearl, many with a strong tinge of green, looked fantastic. So good, in fact, you'd want to take one home, except WA Business News has a gift policy that doesn't allow such latitude (and the price range was a little beyond my reach).
Not so for many visitors, according to Mrs Humfrey. Certainly, the operation looked significantly more professional than what a tourist might expect from a town many have long considered a sleepy seaside holiday destination for northern Wheatbelt farmers.
Geraldton has clearly woken up to the opportunity that minerals development can bring.
Sure, the existing port has been expanded and new iron ore loading facilities added but, at the same time, the city is improving its heavy vehicle corridors and (Perth take note) has removed the unsightly rail line that separates the main centre from the beach.
But despite this positive change there is a big hole in the tourism sector, and I suspect that was the motivation of Mr Humfrey for getting the media up for a look.
He's been pushing for a resort on the nearby Abrolhos Islands for about a decade and is clearly very frustrated that, after spending $3 million on development and approvals, he's won the right to build a project he says is made unviable by planning restrictions.
While I naturally sympathise with his point of view, the lack of a proper tourism facility on the Abrolhos - when dozens of what appear to be shantytowns dot the stunning archipelago to service the lobster industry - does seem bizarre.
Like the rest of WA, Geraldton might in the grips of a mining boom, but thought needs to be given to what amenities the state offers both residents and visitors.
That's especially the case when there are people in the private sector willing to invest. And in the case of Mr Humfrey, that opportunity may be lost if future succession planning finds such a development too difficult to contemplate.
