After a lifetime of accumulating wealth, high net worth families are often confronted with several obstacles when trying to maximise their legacy. Many Jamaicans turn their attention to the booming stock market while others look to US-and Jamaican dollar investments as well as corporate and public debt structures.

Globally, however, the concept of family office investment is gaining traction with the growing number of next-generation millionaires looking to more diversified investment strategies. Family office investment is often now looked at as an asset class in line with venture capital or private equity investments.

But what exactly is a family office?

A family office is a wealth management company that invests assets on behalf of a wealthy individual or groups of wealthy individuals. The concept dates back to the 15th century, but there has been a recent proliferation of the format due principally to the recent explosion of tech-generated wealth.

The roles, responsibilities, tasks, and duties of family office services range from the payment of bills to capital investing and managing complex portfolios across varying asset types and classes including direct venture capital/private equity, co-investing, real estate direct investing, hedge funds, agriculture, commodities, developed and developing-market fixed income.

Family office investing is among several topics to be covered at the upcoming staging of the Destination Experience Visionaries’ Summit to be held April 4-6 at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.

Speaking on the subject matter will be Michael Wright, managing partner in N3GU Investments — a Canadian investment holding company founded in 2013 as a result of the merging efforts of three Canadian family offices. N3GU Investments offers its client companies with advisory, consulting, international business development as well as access to financing.

Aside from exploring the categories of family office, Wright will focus on key matters including family office investments as a viable alternative to venture capital, could family office be right for you and how can experts prepare their company to receive an investment?

Through his presentation, Wright hopes to highlight family office investments alternatives for wealthy Jamaicans seeking diversified streams for their liquid cash in the absence of Government borrowing from the local market.

Additionally, family office investment has not been pursued by Jamaican companies seeking capital. This class of investment requires very specific connections and business structure. Family offices typically have focused investment areas in many cases based on the industry in which the owner created their wealth or areas of passion for the owners. The families often appoint an individual or team of executives to oversee their investments — much as people are used to having a financial advisor — except this team is in house acting as employees to the family office.

As the world looks beyond traditional investment avenues, there is optimism that Jamaica will find its place among the 10,000 family offices worldwide managing US$5.1 trillion of ultra high net worth wealth.

Wright joins a number of other featured speakers at the Visionaries’ Summit including Ann-Marie Campbell, Jamaican-born executive vice- president for homeware and hardware retailer Home Depot Inc; Lord Michael Hastings, global head of citizenship at accounting/consulting giant KPMG; former General Electric Advanced Materials CEO Wayne Hewett; Peter Blair Henry, dean emeritus at NYU’s Stern School of Business, also Jamaican-born and a board member of Citigroup and Nike; Wisynco Group CEO Andrew Mahfood; Jamaica Producers Group CEO Jeffrey Hall and Musson group chairman and CEO) PB Scott.

The event aims to continue helping with moving the needle on innovation in health care and to elevate the image of the Caribbean as a business destination, driving entrepreneurship, investments, partnerships and technology-driven innovation within the market.

This year the summit will be held under the theme ‘Capitalism, Inclusiveness, and Innovation in The Fourth Industrial Revolution’, and will uncover trending globally relevant subject matter aimed at promoting increased innovation and technology use in business.