For many, the American dream is a successful family-owned business with shared goals, prosperity and values. The Steinbeck Family Business Seminar focuses on helping family-owned (or otherwise closely held) businesses stay effective and profitable while enhancing their leadership, management and governance capabilities. The seminar is suitable for small businesses from all fields. Read about two thriving businesses with Bruins in the management mix and enroll for the benefits of the seminar’s lectures, interactive sessions and case studies to boost your business success.

Next Class: April 29-30: Family Governance and Dynamics

To enroll and for more information: visit Steinbeck Seminar. Save 15% by using the discount code uclaalum.

The Porto’s Bakery Story
On Bruinwalk, the rich aroma of freshly baked guava and cheese rolls waft towards students heading to class. Porto’s Bakery, a small family business, has experienced tremendous success in Southern California, topping the list of Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in 2016. A favorite snack of students and a popular fundraising item for student groups at UCLA, Porto’s boasts close ties to the school, with one of the family members a proud Bruin.

Today, Porto’s Bakery is run by three siblings: Raul, Betty and Margaret Porto. The three grew up supporting their mother Rosa's bakery run out of their home in Cuba. When the family immigrated to Los Angeles, they sold pastries and cake out of their house. As the little bakery started picking up steam and the line of customers lining up outside their door grew, Porto’s opened its first location in Glendale in 1975. Raul will be speaking at the upcoming Steinbeck Family Business Seminar, a program aimed towards owners and managers of family-owned and other closely held businesses. It is presented by UCLA Anderson’s Price Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The siblings grew up pitching in and working alongside their parents. Starting off by cleaning pans and baking bread, the three eventually each fell into their best-suited roles after graduating from college. Raul now serves as CEO, Betty is the community outreach director, and Margaret manages finances and wedding cakes. The humble beginning of the bakery has blossomed into a chain with four locations.

“It’s really cool to be part of something bigger than you, and to feel that you’re being taken care of in the family business,” Raul says. “We used to all work in the bakery for eight to 10 hours a day, and since there was no time to go home and eat, my mom would make something special for lunch in the bakery, and we would all sit down to eat together.” Fond memories surround Raul’s upbringing, as he worked alongside his parents, supporting the growth and expansion of the bakery. Now his son has come on board, the third generation to lend a hand in the family-owned business.

Betty earned her Master’s Degree in 1983 from UCLA in Political Science. Though she considered pursuing a law degree, Betty ultimately fell in love with the bakery and now works in community outreach and sales. “I started out assisting my father with customers. We built relations, and worked closely with employees. As I started working closely with people in the community and started reaching out to them, I found that I really enjoyed this role,” Betty says. “Porto’s places great emphasis on knowing who our customers are and the value we bring.”

Family businesses can bring unique challenges in working dynamics. “It’s wonderful to work with people you’re comfortable with, but at the same time, if you have a bad day at work with your coworker, you end up at the same household,” Raul laughs. “It’s great, but it’s definitely not for everybody!” The three siblings usually get along really well— in part due to how the siblings each gravitated towards roles best suited for them as they grew up. Raul specialized in purchasing, baking and production; Betty and dad worked on sales; and Margaret and mom focused on finances.

“Try to divide up the responsibilities and give other people their space. Don’t oversee it too aggressively,” Raul advises. He attributes the success of his family business to everybody having patience and a strong devotion to keeping the family together. “We have the same ideas, we’re on the same page. We have a shared vision and we are in alignment with each other,” Betty confirms.

Porto’s has come a long way. “We’re an immigrant story. We’ve definitely had to fight bigger odds [in my parent’s generation] to come to where we are now in Southern California. We’ve come from the shadows of doing our little thing to become mainstream, accepted and part of the community,” Raul states. From rags to riches, Porto’s is now looking to open its fifth and sixth location.

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Netsol Technologies - An International Family Business

Across the world, Netsol Technologies was founded in Pakistan in 1997 by three brothers: Najeeb, Salim and Naeem Ghauri. The company is the only Pakistani company publicly traded in the United States and is part of the growing tech industry in that country. Netsol provides software and services to a global collection of companies, mostly in finance and leasing.

Najeeb’s son, Faizaan, joined the company about four years ago, a year before he enrolled at UCLA Anderson. He earned his M.B.A. in 2015 and now serves as vice president of strategy in the family business.

“Netsol has been around for about 20 years now. It is software provider, particularly for software in the finance and leasing industry,” Faizaan says. “From a technical perspective, it’s a very traditional business, very much in line with a company like Oracle.

“I had joined the company about a year before I went to business school to really start exploring new ideas for the company,” he says. “I worked specifically on a startup that Netsol had acquired and helped grow that business. We ended up getting a lot of Fortune 500 customers on board and then exited that business. It was really through that experience that I felt I really needed to develop more of a framework for looking at new verticals and gain a new discipline and a new language around how to go about doing that, and that’s was really what drove me to business school.”

One of the things that Faizaan says really benefitted him during his Anderson experience was the Steinbeck Family Business Seminar. He attended the seminar with his father.

“This was a very candid two days. We didn’t just broach sensitivities of family business relationships, we took them head on and developed a framework to manage both family and employee dynamics,” Faizaan says. “Attending the seminar with my dad certainly helped us set a roadmap for what each of us wants to accomplish in the coming years.”

If you are interested in finding out more about the Steinbeck Family Business seminar on April 29 and 30, visit Steinbeck Seminar