AJS welcomed Mr. Ken Shibusawa as the June Luncheon speaker on Monday, June 25th at Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Mr. Ken Shibusawa is fifth generation descendent of Mr. Eiichi Shibusawa, one of Japan’s first Meiji era venture capitalists. Venerable Eiichi is famous for his entrepreneurship in establishing 476 companies in Japan most of which are still operating and are among Japan’s leading companies in a wide range of fields. These companies include First National Bank, Tokyo Gas, Tokyo Marine & Fire Insurance, Oji Paper Co., Ltd, Imperial Hotel, the Tokyo stock exchange, Kirin Brewery, Sapporo Breweries, the Keihan Rail Company and others. Eiichi established the First National Bank when he was age only 33.

Ken graduated from the University of Texas and received his MBA from UCLA. He noted that he began to understand Eiichi’s accomplishments when he first started his business as an entrepreneur in Japan. Ken shared with us what he has learned from his great grandfather Eiichi.

In the middle of Meiji era in Japan, the management of day to day business was affected by a very dynamic and quickly-changing society. Enterprise bankruptcy, M&A, and personal promotion were very common in competitive business fields. Eiichi, however, argued that business profits should be returned to society and even said that the profits should be made in a reasonable way. The Shibusawas have a family tradition of not participating in mercenary business for moral reasons.

Eiichi visited U.S.A. when he reached age 60 and made many American friends through his business and social relations. He was familiarly called Japan’s “Grand old man”.
According to Eiichi, the desirable conditions for venture capital are:
1) Does the new business fit the business model structure?
2) Is the new business starting at the right time?
3) Does that new business have enough in house human resources for future expansion?
4) Does that new business contribute to the general public and the country?

The teachings of Eiichi also require business executives to maintain a balance between knowledge, emotions and strong desires. If those people maintain a good balance between these three, the company will be well managed and the society will benefit. Another of Eiichi’s teaching said that rational management leads to an enjoyable heart. The common characteristic among successful business people is happy people who enjoy their life. This also attracts the other people to create strong social networks. Ken told us that like these there are still lots of lessons from Eiichi’s teachings that remain relevant even today.