The Center

To us, the benefits and importance of family businesses networking together are clear. Our mantra, "family businesses are different," is not just a catchy phrase. We know that family businesses face unique challenges during their start-up and throughout the life of the business. Every Iowa business faces challenges, but there is a specific need to conserve family businesses in our home state. The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Family Business Center strives to create a community of family businesses. These families will learn about business governance, continuity, strategic planning, leadership transition and growth. 

The UNI Family Business Center is for you! You might be struggling to create a healthy and balanced family dynamic in your business. Or maybe you're confident in your abilities to navigate these waters, but want to build a community of leaders experiencing similar obstacles. With our location at the University of Northern Iowa, the Family Business Center has a large network of resources to set you up on a trajectory for success.

The UNI Family Business Center is a program of the Business & Community Services (BCS) department under the College of Business. ‌BCS houses 12 programs that deliver assistance to the doors of clients in all 99 Iowa counties. BCS works with businesses, entrepreneurs, communities and governments, providing a wide array of services from marketing research and business incubation, to environmental compliance assistance and economic development. The BCS brand of Building a Better Iowa continues to grow to cater to the needs of Iowa businesses providing unsurpassed expertise and knowledge.‌