Family businesses play a central role in Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) economic and social development. They provide substantial employment, contribute materially to GDP, and anchor communities across the country.
The 2025 PwC Family Business Survey (FBS), conducted from April to June 2025, offers a timely snapshot of this landscape. This edition comes at a moment of cautious optimism — supported by renewed activity in the resources sector and elevated prices for PNG’s key agricultural commodities — set against ongoing socio‑political disruption and macroeconomic pressures.
Signs of momentum
Several recent developments have reinforced expectations of future growth. Key projects such as the Papua LNG development continued to advance towards a Final Investment Decision, while the Porgera gold mine reopened after an extended closure. These initiatives have generated anticipation of new employment and investment opportunities, with positive flow‑on effects for family businesses directly linked to these sectors and those that benefit from broader economic spillovers.
Persistently strong commodity prices in 2025 helped offset domestic headwinds. Higher resource export revenues strengthened the government’s fiscal position, while robust agricultural prices delivered direct income gains into PNG’s large informal economy. A further positive surprise in 2025 was the improved availability of foreign currency, driven by stronger export inflows and changes in monetary policy by the Bank of PNG. Together, these factors underpinned a lift in business confidence, enabling some family businesses to cautiously pursue growth and innovation despite continuing uncertainty.
Significant challenges persist
At the same time, the operating environment remains demanding. The events of 10 January 2024 — widely known as “Black Wednesday” — saw civil unrest that caused extensive damage to infrastructure and businesses, primarily in Port Moresby but also in other centres. This social disruption compounded existing pressures, including foreign currency constraints and rising costs.
Between early 2024 and mid‑2025, the PNG kina (PGK) depreciated by an estimated 10–15% against the US dollar, pushing up import costs and compressing margins for businesses unable to fully pass these increases on to customers. Broader inflationary pressures further eroded household purchasing power, weighing on consumption and increasing operating costs across the family business sector.
Global and regional headwinds add another layer of complexity. Geopolitical tensions, fragile supply chains, ongoing commodity price volatility and persistent international inflation continue to shape PNG’s export‑reliant economy — and the family businesses embedded within it.
About this report
This report examines performance, growth outlook, strategic priorities, governance practices and innovation adoption among PNG family businesses. It benchmarks PNG findings against results from the PwC Global Family Business Survey 2025, which captured 1,325 interviews across more than 60 territories. The analysis highlights current strengths, emerging challenges and critical areas for future focus as PNG family enterprises seek to build competitive resilience and long‑term continuity in a dynamic environment.
The report is intended for family business owners, policymakers, professional advisers and all stakeholders invested in PNG’s economic future.
We extend our sincere thanks to the 38 family businesses that participated in this survey. Your willingness to share your experiences and perspectives makes this research possible and ensures it remains grounded in the realities of doing business in PNG.
PwC PNG remains committed to supporting the country’s family business community through research, advisory services and practical insights that help build stronger, more resilient enterprises for generations to come.
Performance and Growth Outlook
Family businesses are central to Papua New Guinea’s economic fabric. Their performance trajectory and growth outlook provide an important indicator of broader economic health. In recent years, PNG family businesses have demonstrated resilience amid macroeconomic volatility, domestic disruptions and global uncertainty — but the data also points to persistent structural challenges that limit stronger, more widespread performance.
Sales growth: A significant gap with global peers
Half (50%) of PNG family businesses reported sales growth in the past financial year, compared to 73% globally.
This 23‑percentage‑point gap is substantial and reflects the demanding operating environment in which PNG family businesses operate — including inflation spikes, currency depreciation and episodic social disruption.
Historical trend data from the survey shows a declining trajectory in growth outlook:
Historical trend data from the survey also shows a declining trajectory in growth outlook over recent cycles. The persistent gap between PNG and global peers — consistently around 10 percentage points on forward‑looking growth ambitions — suggests that structural barriers, rather than cyclical factors alone, are constraining business confidence and expansion.
Distribution and intensity of growth
While the overall share of growing businesses trails global peers, the intensity of growth among those that are expanding is more encouraging:
| Growth Intensity | PNG 2025 (%) | Global 2025 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Double-digit growth | 34 | 25 |
| Single-digit growth | 24 | 32 |
This points to a polarised growth landscape. PNG family businesses that do find growth opportunities tend to capture them aggressively, with a higher incidence of double‑digit performance than global peers. However, a larger proportion of PNG businesses experience stagnation or decline. The lower rate of single‑digit growth (24% vs. 32%) suggests fewer businesses are achieving moderate, steady expansion; growth outcomes tend to skew towards either strong performance or none.
Contextual factors influencing performance
These performance dynamics reflect a combination of global and local forces:
- Resource sector momentum — Prospects surrounding the Papua LNG project and the reopening of the Porgera mine are providing stimulus but remain sensitive to commodity prices and project timelines.
- “Black Wednesday” (January 2024) — Civil unrest caused significant infrastructure damage and supply disruption, particularly in Port Moresby, creating operational uncertainty and temporary sales declines.
- Kina depreciation and inflation — An estimated 10–15% depreciation of the kina against the US dollar between early 2024 and mid‑2025, combined with broader inflationary pressures, increased input costs and eroded consumer purchasing power, squeezing margins and constraining demand.
- Improved foreign currency availability (2025) — Stronger export inflows and changes in Bank of PNG monetary policy eased some foreign currency constraints, relieving pressure on import‑dependent businesses.
- Sustained elevated commodity prices — Higher prices for key commodities bolstered government fiscal positions and agricultural incomes, providing an important offset to domestic headwinds.
- Geopolitical tensions and supply chain volatility — Ongoing global uncertainty continues to affect market access, logistics and cost structures.
Section implications
The growth profile of PNG family businesses — lagging global peers overall, but with strong performance among those that are growing — highlights several strategic opportunities:
- Facilitate access to affordable capital — Enabling more businesses to invest in capacity, diversification and innovation.
- Address structural barriers — Tackling infrastructure gaps, connectivity issues and market access constraints that limit the proportion of businesses able to grow.
- Harness the reinvention mindset — With 61% of PNG family businesses willing to fully reinvent their approach during disruption, there is a strong cultural foundation to channel into deliberate, structured growth strategies rather than reactive responses.
In summary, PNG family businesses exhibit notable endurance, evidenced by strong double‑digit growth among successful performers and cautiously optimistic expectations despite multiple shocks. Yet the significant gap with global peers on overall growth rates underscores the need for concerted action. Accelerating growth will require navigating domestic headwinds with strategic agility, investing in capabilities and strengthening internal foundations to compete effectively in an increasingly dynamic environment.
Strategic Priorities, Innovation and Sustainability
Strategic priorities define the roadmap family businesses follow to navigate their markets, balance risk and opportunity, and secure long‑term success. For PNG family businesses, the 2025 FBS reveals a nuanced picture: a pragmatic focus on resilience and core business protection, combined with a strong willingness to reinvent when disruption demands it — yet constrained by significant gaps in innovation investment, sustainability integration and board governance.
Growth context: Framing strategic priorities
PNG family businesses’ strategic choices are shaped by their growth context. As outlined in the Performance section, 50% of PNG family businesses reported sales growth in the last financial year, compared to 73% globally. Among those that grew, 34% achieved double‑digit growth (vs. 25% globally). Growth ambitions for the next two years stand at 67% (vs. 77% globally).
This combination — moderate overall growth with pockets of strong outperformance amid considerable challenges — underpins a strategic posture that is both opportunity‑seeking and cautious.
Strategic triggers: What drives significant shifts
A distinctive feature of PNG family businesses is what triggers major strategic shifts. The survey shows that PNG family businesses are:
This suggests that, even in a difficult operating environment, many PNG family businesses are proactively seeking growth rather than responding only when forced by crisis.
Response to market disruption: Bold reinvention
When confronted with market disruption or significant industry change, PNG family businesses take a markedly more transformative approach than their global peers:
- 61% of PNG family businesses opt to “Fully Reinvent” their approach — fundamentally changing how they lead and manage the business
- Globally, 35% of family businesses take a more “Cautious Approach” — making incremental changes while largely maintaining familiar management styles
Other global response categories include “Actively Innovate” (rethinking management strategies and adopting more adaptive decision‑making), “Selectively Experiment” (testing new approaches in specific areas while maintaining stability elsewhere) and “Entrench Deeply” (doubling down on traditional strategies and minimising risk).
PNG’s strong reinvention mindset represents a significant strategic asset. However, without accompanying investment in innovation capabilities, sufficient capital and robust governance, reinvention risks becoming reactive rather than deliberate and value‑creating.
Balancing long‑term objectives and short‑term pressures
More than two‑thirds of PNG family business leaders report balancing long‑term objectives and short‑term returns equally. This contrasts with the global picture, where 51% report this balance, 34% prioritise long‑term objectives even at the expense of short‑term profitability, and 12% prioritise immediate/short‑term returns.
This equilibrium‑focused stance is characteristic of family businesses embedded in their local markets and communities, where reputation, relationships and legacy encourage balancing near‑term viability with multigenerational thinking.
Trust and reputation: A distinctive PNG strength
Reputation is a particular area of strength and emphasis for PNG family businesses:
- 87% of PNG respondents say maintaining the family business’s reputation is “Very Important” — compared to 78% globally
- 71% of PNG family business leaders say their family business has higher trust than non‑family businesses in terms of reputation with customers, employees and partners — close to the global figure of 74%
This trust foundation — built through deep community relationships and long‑term stakeholder engagement — is a strategic asset that can support expansion, attract talent and underpin sustainability leadership.
Competitive advantage perception
Despite their reinvention mindset, PNG family businesses express somewhat lower confidence in the competitive advantages of being family‑owned:
- 50% believe they have a moderate to significant advantage compared to non‑family businesses in responding to market disruptions — versus 63% globally
- 24% believe the advantage is significant — marginally above the global figure of 22%
This confidence gap is likely shaped by PNG’s structural constraints — smaller market size, infrastructure challenges and limited access to capital — rather than a perceived weakness in family business attributes themselves.
Innovation and technology investment: The critical gap
Innovation is one of the clearest areas of divergence between PNG family businesses and their global peers.
The survey explores investment approaches in emerging technologies (e.g. AI, automation and advanced analytics), with PNG results benchmarked against global patterns, where:
PNG data indicates a more cautious posture, with lower levels of structured investment in emerging technologies.
In terms of innovation funding, PNG family businesses rely more heavily on internal capital and make limited use of external finance — consistent with the smaller, family‑dominated boards documented elsewhere in this report.
Why innovation may be under‑prioritised in PNG
- Capital constraints — In a market where 50% did not achieve sales growth in the past year, discretionary investment in unproven technologies competes directly with operational necessities.
- Conservative risk tolerance — Heightened by economic uncertainty, currency volatility and limited exposure to innovation ecosystems.
- Digital infrastructure gaps — Unreliable internet and power supply, particularly outside major urban centres, reduce the practical return on digital investment.
- Digital literacy and skills — Limited technical capabilities within workforces and leadership teams slow adoption.
- Governance concentration — With 63% of PNG boards comprising only family members (vs. 33% globally) and an average board size of 3.1 (vs. 5.0 globally), boards may lack the external expertise and diverse perspectives needed to champion technology‑driven transformation.
As global peers accelerate adoption of advanced digital capabilities — including AI, automation, data‑driven decision‑making and e‑commerce — PNG family businesses’ slower pace of investment risks widening an already emerging competitiveness gap.
Family offices: An emerging but distinctive vehicle
PNG family businesses show a slightly higher rate of family office adoption than the global average:
The high prevalence of virtual family offices in PNG likely reflects geographic realities, scale and cost considerations, while also demonstrating an adaptive approach to accessing structured investment and wealth management capabilities. If given a clearer strategic mandate, family offices could become important vehicles for channelling capital into innovation and sustainability initiatives.
Sustainability: A critical strategic gap
Sustainability and environmental responsibility remain under‑prioritised among many PNG family businesses.
The survey explores how family business leaders feel about the role of their family business today:
The survey explores how family business leaders view the role of their businesses in society, with PNG findings benchmarked against global data. These comparisons provide insight into how PNG family businesses perceive their societal responsibilities relative to peers in other markets.
Why sustainability prioritisation may be low in PNG
- Immediate survival pressures — In a volatile economy with constrained growth (50% achieved growth vs. 73% globally), sustainability often feels secondary to day‑to‑day viability.
- Limited awareness and capability — Many family businesses lack a practical understanding of what sustainability means in their operational context.
- Perceived cost barriers — Sustainability initiatives are often seen as discretionary or expensive, without sufficient recognition of potential cost savings, revenue opportunities and risk‑mitigation benefits.
- Weak local regulatory pressure — Unlike markets where ESG regulation is advancing quickly, PNG’s regulatory environment has yet to create strong compliance incentives.
- Board composition limitations — With 74% of PNG boards having no one aged under 40 (vs. 59% globally) and 50% having no director from a different industry (vs. 29% globally), boards may lack the diversity of perspective needed to champion sustainability.
The strategic case for action is strengthening:
- International supply chain requirements — Major trading partners (particularly Australia, the EU and others) are implementing supply chain due diligence and ESG disclosure regimes, increasing compliance demands on PNG exporters and their partners.
- ESG‑linked financing — Development finance institutions and impact investors are directing more capital towards businesses demonstrating credible ESG commitments.
- Community and stakeholder expectations — In a country where 87% of family businesses rate reputation as “Very Important”, visible environmental and social responsibility directly reinforces trust and social licence to operate.R
- Risk mitigation — Climate change, environmental degradation and resource depletion pose direct, material risks to many PNG businesses, particularly in agriculture and resource‑linked sectors.
PNG family businesses that begin building sustainability capabilities now — even through modest, practical first steps — will be better positioned to meet rising expectations and capture emerging opportunities.
Section summary: Resilience and reinvention, constrained by capability gaps
The path forward requires a deliberate shift: maintaining the resilience that has served PNG family businesses well, while progressively building the innovation, digital, sustainability and human capital capabilities that will underpin competitiveness in the years ahead.
Family Dynamics and Governance
Family dynamics and governance structures are fundamental to the long‑term resilience and success of family businesses worldwide. In Papua New Guinea — where family businesses are often deeply embedded within local communities — these factors shape not only business continuity, but also social cohesion and the fulfilment of legacy aspirations.
Company purpose
A clear company purpose provides the foundation for strategic alignment, stakeholder engagement and cultural coherence:
Among businesses with an articulated purpose, the survey explores which statements are true of that purpose, with PNG and global data presented side by side. A clear purpose can serve as a unifying framework for family members across generations and a reference point for strategic decision‑making.
Trust and reputation
Trust is a cornerstone of family business stability and collaboration:
This strong emphasis on reputation is a significant asset. At the same time, survey responses indicate that many PNG businesses perceive meaningful vulnerability in their reputation when tested against current social and economic pressures:
The combination of high importance placed on reputation and perceived exposure suggests that PNG family businesses recognise their reputational capital — while strong — requires active protection and management in the current environment.
Generational alignment on key business priorities
The survey examines the degree of alignment between the current and next generation across key business priorities. Global benchmarks show:
PNG data is presented alongside these figures throughout the report, enabling comparison of where generational views converge and diverge.
Where misalignment exists, the risks can be significant:
- Decision‑making gridlock — diverging views can slow or stall critical decisions.
- Generational gaps — differing priorities between founding and succeeding generations may result in strategic incoherence.
- Succession challenges — misalignment complicates leadership transitions and can undermine confidence in the succession process.
Governance policies in place
The survey assesses which governance policies and procedures family businesses have implemented, with PNG and global results compared.
Effective governance structures help to:
- Define roles and responsibilities — reducing ambiguity and preventing overlaps or gaps.
- Provide conflict‑resolution mechanisms — supporting constructive handling of disagreements.
- Strengthen strategic oversight and planning — aligning family aspirations with business objectives.
- Enhance external accountability — supporting engagement with investors, lenders, advisors and other stakeholders.
PNG results indicate considerable room to formalise governance, particularly in earlier‑generation businesses where informal arrangements often prevail.
Family conflict
The survey also explores whether family conflict occurs within the business and how it is handled:
- The prevalence of conflict and the mechanisms used to manage it are captured for both PNG and global respondents.
- Among those experiencing conflict at least occasionally, the survey documents the approaches used to resolve disputes.
Effective conflict management is critical, especially in PNG’s predominantly early‑generation family businesses where roles, leadership boundaries and authority are still being actively negotiated.
Board composition and diversity: A significant governance gap
Board composition is one of the areas where gaps between PNG and global family businesses are most striking:
- Board size — PNG boards average 3.1 members, compared with a global average of 5.0. Smaller boards may be more agile, but they also limit the range of perspectives, expertise and oversight capacity available.
- Family dominance — 63% of PNG boards comprise only family members (vs. 33% globally). This is the widest single gap and restricts access to independent, external viewpoints that can challenge established thinking and contribute specialised expertise.
- Gender diversity — While 34% of PNG boards have no women (similar to 32% globally), a further 53% have only one woman (vs. 35% globally). This means the vast majority of boards have minimal female representation.
- Industry diversity — 50% of PNG boards have no member from a different industry background (vs. 29% globally), limiting cross‑sector learning and innovation potential.
- Age diversity — 74% have no one aged under 40 (vs. 59% globally), constraining the infusion of next‑generation perspectives, digital fluency and evolving market insights.
These governance gaps compound the challenges identified elsewhere in this report — particularly around innovation adoption, sustainability integration and succession readiness.
Longer‑term goals
The survey also examines the importance family businesses place on a range of longer‑term goals (over the next five years or more), with PNG and global data presented side by side. Global importance ratings range from 45% to 88% across various priority areas, providing benchmarks against which PNG family businesses’ forward‑looking priorities can be assessed — including growth, professionalisation, family cohesion, sustainability and social contribution.
Role of family business in society
PNG family businesses’ views on their role in society provide important context for both sustainability and governance discussions:
The survey compares PNG with global results on the extent to which family businesses see themselves as responsible for:
- Creating jobs and supporting local communities
- Acting as stewards of natural resources
- Contributing to national development and social wellbeing
PNG data is presented alongside these global figures, highlighting the degree to which PNG family businesses view themselves as custodians of broader societal outcomes, not just commercial performance.
Challenges in preparing the next generation
The survey identifies the most significant challenges in preparing the next generation for leadership, with PNG and global data compared. These challenges include:
- Ensuring the next generation has the right skills and experience
- Managing expectations around ownership and leadership roles
- Encouraging interest and commitment to the family business
- Balancing merit‑based appointments with family considerations
This is particularly relevant in PNG, where many family businesses are still in their first or second generation, and will face major leadership transitions over the coming decade.
Section implications
PNG family businesses demonstrate strong foundations in trust, reputation and purpose. However, governance structures — particularly board composition and diversity, and the formalisation of policies and processes — represent the most significant areas of divergence from global peers.
To address these gaps, PNG family businesses should consider:
By strengthening governance and managing family dynamics proactively, PNG family businesses can better harness their existing strengths — particularly trusted relationships and strong reputations — to support sustainable, multigenerational success.
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