ASSOCIATES
Family Legacies' Associates are leaders in their respective fields including; Financial Planning, Wealth & Risk Management, Auditing & Business Turnarounds, Corporate & Commercial Law as well as Professional Coaching & Facilitation, combined with Family Business Consulting expertise, to provide our clients with a professional and integrated multi-disciplinary service.
DU TOIT VAN DEN BERG
JEANDRE DU TOIT
LOUIS STROEBEL
DEBBIE MARTIN
Financial Planning, Wealth
& Risk Management
Auditing, Company Structuring
& Business Turnarounds
Corporate & Commercial Law
Professional Coach & Facilitator
BUILDING LEGACIES THAT ENDURE
GUIDING BUSINESS FAMILIES THROUGH CHANGE, CONTINUITY, AND RENEWAL
TREVOR DICKINSON
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, DICKINSON GROUP OF COMPANIES
FOUNDER, FAMILY LEGACIES
A Lifetime in Family Enterprise — Now Dedicated to Helping Others Thrive
As a fifth-generation leader of a 115-year-old family enterprise, I understand both the privilege and the pressure that come with sustaining a legacy.
Over time, I’ve seen how success can quietly test the relationships that built it — how transitions, differing ambitions, and unspoken expectations can unsettle unity and purpose.
I founded Family Legacies to help business families navigate those transitions with clarity, empathy, and structure — ensuring that the family remains aligned, the business remains strong, and the legacy remains meaningful.
After more than three decades leading the Dickinson Group of Companies, I’ve come to see that continuity is never just about wealth or strategy.
It’s about people, principles, and the moral fabric that binds generations.
That belief has shaped what I call Moral Ambition — the will to achieve without losing one’s humanity on the climb; to pursue success guided by conscience so that growth strengthens others as much as it advances ourselves.
Lessons from Five Generations
Family business is as much about emotion as it is about economics.
It’s where belonging, identity, and ambition intertwine — and where silence can either protect or divide.
Through my own experience, I’ve learned that most family-business challenges are not financial or operational; they are relational.
By bringing openness, structure, and self-awareness into that space, families can turn tension into alignment and succession into renewal.
At Family Legacies, my work focuses on helping families rediscover that balance — transforming complex family systems into cohesive, values-based enterprises that can thrive across generations.
Rooted in a Living Legacy
The principles behind Family Legacies were born from my own family’s journey.
Over several years I created the Dickinson Family Legacy Collection — a body of work that captures our values, philosophy, and governance frameworks for future generations.
It includes letters, charters, and guiding documents designed to preserve not only our assets but the essence of who we are as a family and a business.
That process revealed a simple truth: every business family needs its own structure — one that reflects its story, beliefs, and aspirations.
Today those same frameworks guide my advisory work with families seeking to define ownership principles, strengthen governance, and prepare successors.
Capturing Intention and Meaning
Beyond governance and planning, Family Legacies helps families translate intention into written form — recording not only structures and policies but the personal values and wishes that give them life.
This includes guiding letters, family charters, and letters of wishes — ensuring that wealth, purpose, and understanding are passed forward together.
What endures, ultimately, is not inheritance but insight.
How We Help
Our work bridges lived experience and disciplined methodology — helping business families build clarity, continuity, and unity.
We guide families to define their shared values, create practical governance frameworks, and prepare future generations for leadership and ownership.
Core areas include:
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Family constitutions and council charters
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Values, mission, and vision statements
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Succession and leadership planning
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Conflict resolution and mediation
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Strategic and exit planning
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Family business coaching and education
Each engagement meets families where they are — blending empathy with structure to preserve both relationships and enterprise.
Experience and Perspective
My approach combines lived experience with formal training and a global outlook.
My professional background includes certifications from the Family Firm Institute (Family Business and Family Wealth Advising), the International Mediation Institute, and the Exit Planning Institute, with prior affiliations to the Institute of Directors and Family Business Australia.
Alongside my advisory work, I serve as Executive Chairman of the Dickinson Group of Companies, leading its fifth generation through a new phase of strategic growth and renewal across Africa and the Middle East.
This combination of practical leadership and advisory experience allows me to connect empathy with structure — helping families turn insight into action, and legacy into lived purpose.
What Matters Most
The true measure of success is not a completed plan or a signed charter; it’s when a family finds peace, alignment, and confidence about the future.
If your family is ready to clarify its direction, strengthen its relationships, and build its next chapter on solid ground, Family Legacies can help you begin that journey.
Continuity isn’t only about preserving assets; it’s about preserving understanding — and ensuring that what endures is both prosperity and principle.
Affiliations and Memberships
