How to prepare families and institutions for continuity

Preparing family from an early age is key. A family business can inherit every building the founder owned yet lose much of its value if future leaders are unprepared to run it. FILE PHOTO The greatest threat to family wealth isn’t death—It’s failing to prepare the next generation COMMENT | PETER WACHIRA | East Africa is witnessing one of the most significant wealth transitions in its history.

Across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, thousands of businesses founded in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are approaching a defining moment. The entrepreneurs who built these enterprises through determination, sacrifice and resilience are beginning to hand over leadership to a new generation. This transition presents an enormous opportunity.

The greatest threat facing family wealth today is not taxation, inflation, market volatility or even economic uncertainty. It is the failure to prepare families and institutions for continuity. That message formed the centrepiece of my remarks at the recent TARA Estate Planning Symposium in Kampala on July 16, 2026, at Arirang Hotel, where stakeholders from the legal, financial and business communities gathered to launch The Estate Planning Association (TEPA).

The symposium reflected a growing recognition across Uganda and the region that estate planning is no longer simply a legal matter; it is an economic, governance and family imperative. At ICEA LION Trust Company, which this year celebrates 40 years of helping families preserve and transfer wealth across generations, we have observed one recurring lesson: creating wealth and preserving it require two entirely different skill sets. Building a successful business often depends on entrepreneurial instinct, personal relationships and decisive leadership.

Preserving that success requires governance, systems, transparency and deliberate succession planning. Unfortunately, many families devote decades to creating wealth but very little time preparing for what happens after the founder steps aside. The consequences are visible throughout the region.

Businesses that once employed hundreds collapse within a few years of the founder’s death. Families become embroiled in expensive legal disputes. Valuable land remains tied up in succession cases for years.