Dhaka, May 6 -- Family businesses built Bangladesh's private sector. Walk through any major industry -- garments, banking, real estate, telecoms -- you will find that the dominant players trace their origins to a single founder. That is the story of how economies get built.

The problem is what comes next.

In the typical Bangladeshi family conglomerate, the founder holds everything together. Strategy, relationships, final decisions on hiring, capital allocation, expansions -- all these run through one person. This works brilliantly while that person is sharp, healthy, and in the chair. Companies scale fast under strong founders. But this concentration of power plants a time bomb inside the organisation, because no founder lasts forever. ...