Can Love and business mix?

It is becoming more the rule than the exception for a good number of Kenyan couples to live and also work together. There are couples who may have met at work and have eventually tied the knot - with each other.

Then there is the group who leave employment and decide to start a business together as partners. This decision is often driven by many reasons, with everything from similar passions, to adventurous tendencies.

Then there is the lack of quality time that one needs to spend with their partner to make the family life successful, a fact that is becoming more and more of dream for many couples in 2016; this is because, many couples today are both working, further, factor in crazy deadlines and never ending traffic jam, and the result is that most couples barely get time with each other.

Despite this, there are several people who still believe that married couples should never work together, and are skeptical that the arrangement could end up destroying both the business and the marriage because clear boundaries are lacking.

In fact, a common question is: “you’re married and you work together? how on earth do you make it work?”

Well we spoke to four couples who despite all the skepticism, have found a way to balance both family and work life successfully.

LISTEN TO EACH OTHER

Nev and Mansoor Jiwani

What business do you run together and what roles do you each play?

Nev: My husband and I have been blessed to be married for over 30 years now. We run a group of companies that include Leisure and Travel Guides East Africa, International Quality Awards and Global Image Group of Companies with our three sons who run different departments.

 We run a marketing and promotion company which entails publishing, loyalty programme, travel, award programmes for the hospitality industry and promoting tourism locally regionally and internationally.

I am the group MD and the founder of the brand Go Places which has been in existence for 25 years while my husband is the group CEO and the founder and brainchild of the Chefs Delight Awards.

My husband joined my growing company in 2005 and we make a great team together.

What qualities do you each bring to the table?

Nev: My husband is an all-rounder and oversees all departments. He is very calm and extremely professional and strategic in the running of the businesses as well as future projects. While I believe my best business quality is the fact that I truly believe in what I do; my motto is consistency, quality, delivery and originality.

What are the challenges of working together as a married couple?

Mansoor: Every couple has challenges and we do have our moments, but the important thing is we always listen to one another, and while working together we are not a couple we are partners.

Nev: I am a very impatient person and I need things to be done immediately while my husband is calm and calculated. Like they say “opposites attract”

What are the benefits of working together?

Mansoor: I am truly humbled and blessed. The great advantage of being married to your best friend and trusting each other in business decisions is extremely fundamental. We know and understand each other’s’ strengths and weaknesses and therefore we complement each other.

DON’T SET BOUNDARIES

Joseph and Kuyu Hellon

Kuyu: We have been married for 14 years but we have been business partners for 20 years. We run a number of businesses together, we run a money market company called Finance Syndicators which funds major real estate projects, a second company called Security and Futures Exchange deals with the stock market, and a music college called the Jether House of Music.

What are the different strengths you bring to the table that makes the business work?

Joseph: She is the administrator and the one who takes care of the money, I believe that women are better with money than men. Plus, her intuition is a gift, whenever I want to get into a deal with someone and she says no, I always listen because you can never go wrong with a woman’s intuition, it is always right! I am good at making money. Everything I touch seems to make money.

 If I play music, I make money, if I teach music, I make money, if I advise people I make money. I am a very good businessman, and she is good at the management aspect.

Do you believe it is important to place boundaries to ensure home issues do not seep into work and vice versa?

Joseph: We do not operate on boundaries and feel that is a bit unnecessary, we have a lifestyle of productivity where we do not look at work as work because we are both passionate about what we do as it is part of our life.

If we have a work obligation to do then we do it, there are times we are working on a project and we will do an all-nighter, other times she will work on it throughout the night and after she goes to sleep, I get up and continue to work on it. In fact, I believe that as a married couple you have an edge when you work together, because when home issues pop up in the office and vice versa, you can easily dispense with them quickly and move on.

Any advice to a couple who want to get into business together?

Joseph: It really is not rocket science; I mean you get to work with someone who you have publicly acknowledged to be the love of your life; marriage is not a truce between enemies who are tolerating each other.

Kuyu: If you put in the right effort to make your marriage work, then doing business together should not be too hard. The problem with marriages today is people are willing to put effort in work, in school and everything else except their marriages.

DO NOT FEAR CONFLICT

Alex Mungai Rurii and Vera Mungai

Alex: My wife and I have been married for 11 years and have been working together for eight months now. We run a business called Moran Capital Management Ltd where we do wealth management for both individuals and institutions.

What are the different strengths you bring to the table that makes the business work?

Alex: I am the finance guy, the nuts and bolts of the company and my wife is the marketing and client relations person, what I like to call the prettier side of the business.

Are there any challenges you face because you share both the work and home space?

Vera: I think the biggest is the fact that we are so different and while that can be a challenge we have both come to learn that it can also be an asset because if you are similar, then you have nothing to add to each other.

Another is the fact that putting boundaries in place so you leave work in the office when you are home, and issues at home when you are at work, is not easy; the best you can do is try.

What is the best thing about working with your spouse?

Vera: You do not have to question the commitment of your partner because you know you are both in it to succeed. Also, the fact that you get to date your colleague is a plus!

Any advice?

Alex: You have to be brutally honest there is no way around it, for the business to work you must trust each other. Also, do not fear conflict, you are both different personalities and it is bound to happen. What matters is how you solve it, so learn to compromise and to be flexible.

REMEMBER YOU ARE INDIVIDUALS

Kanjii Mbugua and Mwendie Mwiti-Mbugua

What type of business do you do?

Kanjii: We run Kijiji Agency, a digital marketing and media agency business for over 12 years now and have been married for ten years.

What is the best part about working with your spouse?

Mwendie: We get to appreciate each other’s strengths and our differences. God has really blessed us in our union especially in the manner in which we complement each other both in marriage and in business. Kanjii is the big dreamer, he is the visionary and is very clear about what it is he wants.

Plus, he is a fantastic business man and is very good with people; in fact, you could say he is a great leader as he is able to make people excited about a vision and get them on the bus.

While I am the strategic one; he comes up with the vision and I identify how to move us from point A to B, to make the vision a reality, I am also a very detailed oriented person, and that prevents the ball from dropping in the process of chasing a vision. Plus, we are both creatives and that helps a lot in our business

What challenges do you face?

Kanjii: I find that working together when you are married is a learning process, every day is a refining process especially when it comes to separating home with the work place. Finding balance is very important.

Any advice?

Mwendie: First, communication is key. Secondly, trust is also very important, because there will be situations where one of you will make big blunders and you must not only forgive but continue to trust that you both have each other’s interests at heart.

 Lastly, keep pursuing your personal dreams, for example Kanjii, apart from our business, leads worship and is currently working on a new album, while I recently launched a children’s book called Don’t Turn Off the Lights.