Crafting the perfect recipe has been the hallmark of Swiss flavour and fragrance manufacturer Firmenich for more than 120 years. Today its state-of-the-art laboratory in Geneva stands as a reminder of the family’s recipe-making prowess. Inheriting this disposition is fourth-gen Benjamin Firmenich, who has put aside perfume in order to find a formula for engaging the next generation. A process, he says, is like catching lightning in a bottle.

“It’s extremely important to keep the next generation engaged because family businesses grow at an exponential rate,” says the 35-year-old, who graduated with an MSc in environmental sciences from the Netherland’s Wageningen University. “Just 40 years ago Firmenich only had five shareholders. By the time the next generation rolls around it’ll have more than 40.”

Benjamin’s desire to engage the next generation stems from the hope that they’ll build a better world. On a more immediate level, he hopes to keep the next generation of the Firmenich family engaged with the family business from his seat on Firmenich’s next-generation and talent committee, which is designed to help the younger generation develop skills and improve family unity. He tackles the issue through bespoke workshops, which cater to those aged 12 to 40 and include everything from a smells, flavours, and tastes workshop for the younger members to financial training for the older next gens. The most important event in the calendar is an annual seminar in the countryside.

“One of the reasons we hold these next gen-only workshops is because we’ve noticed they sometimes find it difficult to contribute where the elder generation are involved. Having an activity weekend in the countryside with team-building exercises and seminars helps them to get to know each other better and to keep them engaged with the business,” he explains.

Benjamin and his two siblings have experienced the difficulties facing the next generation first hand, and have embarked on markedly different career paths as a result. His older brother Julien, 36, currently reports to the head of ingredients at Firmenich, and holds the second-most senior position within that department. His sister Yasmine, 45, trained as a lawyer and now runs a polo club with her husband, but retains some influence through her place on the board of the family holding company.

At the senior level, Benjamin’s father, Pierre-Yves (picture below with his wife Sophie), was Firmenich’s chief executive from 1999 to 2002 and helped increase turnover from CHF 600 million ($604 million) to CHF 2 billion, while his mother, Sophie, currently sits on the family’s philanthropy committee. His cousin, Patrick, was chief executive of the company until 2015, at which point it was decided that they would appoint their first non-family chief executive, Gilbert Ghostine.

Firmenich was founded in 1895 in Geneva and is today the largest privately-run company in the fragrance and flavour market. It has more than 6,000 employees across 63 countries and a turnover of more than CHF 3 billion. The firm reported 7% growth in 2015.

While Benjamin is proud of the family business and the diverse range of relatives still involved, he says the spotlight should be shone on the next generation for their optimism around philanthropy, sustainability and impact investing. However he issues a warning: “There are a lot of next gens out there who are doing great things, but sometimes they are so busy going about their day-to-day business that they don’t realise they could really inspire others. That’s something I’d like to change.” Benjamin hopes to do that in part through his engagement with Nexus Network, a global movement to bridge communities of wealth and social entrepreneurship, which has hosted more than 20 summits across six continents.