Dear members of the FBN community, dear friends,

Some words that are being used to describe the current COVID-19 coronavirus crisis are “devastating”, “catastrophic" and more mildly “unprecedented”. They are all common English words but used today like never before in every one of the multiple reports we read describing the situation in our various countries across the world.

It is unprecedented because of the global spread, with almost every country affected. Unprecedented in the number of people who have been affected, or that could potentially be affected. And unprecedented in the measures being taken to control the spread - such as in locking down economies all over the world with devastating economic consequences especially for the poor and most vulnerable. We have heard heart-wrenching reports of how the virus has affected the elderly in hospitals overwhelmed by the waves of sick people seeking intensive care growing in exponential numbers in Italy, in other countries of Europe, and now in New York.

In India we have entered a strict 21-day lockdown earlier this week. Because of the closure of businesses, factories, construction sites and small service establishments thousands of poor migrant workers employed as daily wage earners have had to return to their villages on foot walking hundreds of kilometres with little money for the barest necessities. The health consequences, if the likes of what has been experienced elsewhere are to arise in densely populated emerging countries, they shall be unimaginable.

While on an individual basis there is little we can do to influence how this will finally turn out, we can leverage our collective human ingenuity, creativity and resilience and eventually prevail.

How does this all affect us in the FBN Community?

Given the global scale of the pandemic it has impacted each one of us in every chapter and in some much more than in others. The first thing we have to do is to secure ourselves and our families to try to keep everyone safe and in good health.

We then must manage how we mitigate the severe economic consequences that this crisis has brought to our businesses at such unforeseen speed, whether it be figuring out how to continue to serve our customers, support our vendors and protect our employees.

And then also think how we still continue to be the good citizens many of our family businesses are in the communities in which we operate, by preserving the many social programs and commitments we have made to the causes and the people who will now be even more dependent on the support that we provide to them.

I am sure these issues are at the top of your minds, and I am equally sure that being the resilient families and businesses that we are, there will be many creative solutions already deployed to enable you to manage yourselves, your families, and your businesses in these very challenging times.

As a network, we have been through crises in the past years - the sudden disappearance of our previous Chairman, Karl-Erivan Haub two years ago, the subsequent financial crisis caused by the 30th Anniversary event. We have come through both these successfully and I am certain that we shall also come through the one we are going through now.

We are already implementing alternate models and means to engage with you. As a start, we have initiated two webinars with our chapter executives last week. I had the pleasure of joining one of these where we had Felicia Heng and Vanessa Young from FBN Asia, Dario Voltattorni from AIDAF-FBN Italy and Elizabeth Bagger from IFB-FBN UK share their experiences on how they have managed their engagement with their members and moved several activities online. Other chapter executives who participated spoke about their experiences too. And consistent with our FBN values they were shared with candor, honesty and humor despite the seriousness of the situation. We came away from the session both wiser and energized to try some of the ideas discussed in our other chapters.

We also have a webinar planned for all members on April 3 and 6 with Randel Carlock and Annelie Karlson on “Families as Leaders of Hope" which we trust many of you will join. NxGs are also planning online Peer Circles, which will start this week. There will be more to follow that you will hear about from Alexis in due course.

You too will also have many examples of creative solutions that you have come up with on how to engage with your families and new ideas for your businesses too. The best ideas often come out of adversity and I am sure many of the solutions will be path defining for your businesses going forward long after this has all passed. Please do share some of these with us.

For my part, I am sharing with you an article I read this week by Jamil Zaki, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, where he states that the new phrase we have heard so much in these past days and weeks - social distancing - is a wrong term, as while this is a time of “physical distancing” we should actually practice “distant socialization”.

More than ever, the FBN mission is relevant and pertinent for our business families: to offer a safe space to learn from, share with and inspire each other. At FBN one of the things we do best is to have great learning along with socialization. We will continue to do that together, but just at a distance in the immediate future.

Meanwhile, please do take care and stay well. Alexis and I look forward to hearing from you with your thoughts and ideas and we wish you all our very best in the days ahead.

With warm regards,

Fahad Forbes

Chairman, FBN International