Family businesses are the backbone not only of the private sector, but are supporting entire economies. With regards to the European context, family businesses make up more than 60 % of all European companies. The process of change in ownership, transfer and/or succession within or outside of a family is an extremely crucial moment in the business life of a family SME: ca. 30% of family business fail in the context of business transfers, leading to enormous jobs, knowledge and entrepreneurial potential losses. According to recent studies, less than 3% of the failures are due to professional errors in accounting, legal or financial advisory planning, or to tax regulations regarding business transfers. At the same time, support in business transfers disproportionally focuses on technical and legislative issues. Family business owners, their advisors and business support organisations need therefore to upgrade their non-technical skills. This entails the fostering of skills and competences, which are transversal i.e. beyond the technical/managerial skills engulfing family-based aspects as interwoven with business-based aspects in play when planning and executing family business transfers. The SUCCESS..ion project will develop a training mechanism providing effective advice and support, directly involving family SMEs owners, family members and advisors to prepare, plan and successfully execute a successful business transfer. The supporting mechanism will consist in a multifaceted set of tools as follows: • A step-by-step transfer advice companion for family business advisors to consult in planning and implementing family business transfer, • A set of family business transfer scenarios and learning material (open-ended transfer stories involving decision-taking, intra-family conflict, etc.) for family business owners in the form of narrative, multi-faceted tools and animated documentaries to support live and blended courses, in the form of a stand-alone, on-line accessible family business transfer supporting toolkit An approximate total of 60 family business owners and members are foreseen to be involved in three countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Spain) in a series of live and blended courses. The project is structured along activities sets referring to 9 Intellectual Outputs providing evidence based reporting on the needs of family business owners and business advisors in targeted support for planning and executing business transfers, an elaborate companion for business advisors facilitating consulting in family business transfers, a multi-faceted guide for family business owners/members with learning material for face-to-face, blended and self-learning pathways. To this end, a partnership has been developed on the basis of the needed expertise and networking capacities in full alignment with the main objectives of the project bringing in 9 organisations coming from 5 countries (BG, EL, ES, CY, DE) accompanied by certain sets of valuable competences. The expected main results during the project are as follows: • Enhance the consulting capacity and skills of business consultants by the provision of a set of methodological guidelines, tools, and practical means to effectively consult family business owners and members to deal with the issue of succession • Provide family business members and owners elaborate, practical and easy to follow learning pathways towards understanding and confronting the issue of succession, by the means of a set of family business transfer learning material and scenarios (open-ended transfer stories involving decision-taking, intra-family conflict, proposed solution methodology etc.) supported by static visualisation and animated material, which will support both live, blended and self-learning courses. • Provide family business asscociations, consulting, entrepreneurship education organisations an integrated on-line available tool with support material to either complement or set up family business succession live or virtual, self-learning projects addressing family business owners. The expected impact of the project can be summarized as follows: Participants i.e. family business owners/members - Enhanced understanding of the dynamics involved in family business transfers - Acquisition of skills and competences to effectively plan and execute family business transfers, especially in dealing with family-based aspects that require Business advisors/consultants - Enrichment of skills and methodologies to consult family business owners/members on family business transfer, understanding in how the technical/business aspects interact with the family/human-aspects in the issue of business succession Participating organisations and diverse stakeholders - Provision of training material and methodologies to be implemented in training and support provisions in business transfer and especially family business management - Enhanced networking and capacity building.