Family businesses are the most significant economic drivers of the world’s economy. In the United States, nearly 20 of 22 million businesses are family controlled and their impact is significant: creating over 62 percent of American jobs and generating 64 percent of the country's GDP. Most importantly, family businesses outperform non-family firms in nearly every measure of competitive success. Yet this success does not come easy, as family leaders face unique challenges managing the needs of the business, the family ownership group and individual family members.

The goal of Saint Joseph's Initiative for Family Business and Entrepreneurship is to provide families the tools necessary to increase long-term competitiveness, ownership prosperity and family unity for generations to come. This will be accomplished through a combination of world-class education, unique experiential learning programs, an innovative curriculum, and applied research.

This novel approach addresses a fundamental need to perpetuate the entrepreneurial legacy and core values on which family businesses are founded. In so doing, we create a nexus between entrepreneurship and family-based businesses.