Meet four couples who are partners both in love and business
THE TV/RADIO PRODUCERS
Zak Dakile and Tracey Martin own Seventeen Eight Media, which specialises in film, television and radio production. Zak was a TV and radio producer and Tracey was in her final year studying advertising and marketing.
They met on a TV shoot, have been together for eight years and have two children, aged 12 and two, with one on the way.
“After introducing himself, Zak asked me where I saw myself in five years. Seems like he had a plan already,” says Tracey.
The plan, it turned out, was to start their own company together.
“It was a natural progression. As a marketing and advertising professional with design skills, I helped him with his presentations and started production management on his productions. Zak’s creativity needed solid business management and planning.”
They lock horns a lot.
“We fight all the time for creative control. In the beginning it was competitive as we both stand for our ideas, but after a while we started compromising to deliver the best work.”
Their roles, however, are fairly separate. Zak goes on locations for the shoots, while Tracey is mainly in pre-and post-production.
“But we both share the stress and workload, and understand if we have had a tough day as we both experience it. The upside is that if we feel like starting the day late because we worked late, we can,” says Tracey.
Zak admits that it’s difficult to shut down after the work day. “Tracey talks work, even after work hours. Dinner conversations are often about business. She gets ideas while we are trying to relax during a movie, or a dinner date, for instance,” he says.
Nonetheless, they say they wouldn’t have it any other way. “Working and building a company together is like building a family and future together,” says Zak. “We work harder and are more passionate, as the business is interlinked with our family growth and happiness. It gives us a strong sense of purpose, and definitely strengthens the relationship.”
The bigger picture – and the example they’re setting for their children – is a strong motivator in doubling up in business, they agree.
“Business empires are usually family-driven businesses and this comes from committing to a vision and goal as one unit. This is what they are learning from us, and we hope our children will take over the business one day,” says Tracey.
THE MOTIVATORS
Billy-Guy Bhembe and Mandi Mdzinwa jointly run Black Child It’s Possible, a company offering motivational talks and coaching sessions at companies, schools and events. They were married in traditional ceremonies in 2010, and will have a white wedding later this year. They have a daughter, aged two.
When they met, on a trip with friends to Durban in 2009, Black Child It’s Possible was up and running, the brainchild of Billy, an entrepreneur. Mandi, a pharmacist, was working for a hospital group. “Billy was focusing on his motivational talks, but there was a gap in training the softer skills, the ‘how to’ part of realising your dreams. That is when I decided to leave my job and start the training division of Black Child It’s Possible,” she says.
Coming from a strictly corporate environment, the entrepreneurial world presented some challenges. “Billy had to impart some of his ‘hustling’ skills. I am also more of an introvert, so I had to work on being more ‘out there’ in order to make our company a success,” she says.
The company has helped both of them realise their individual strengths, Mandi’s being training/teaching and Billy’s being using speech to motivate and inspire. “Everything falls into place when you are living your calling,” she says.
At home, work takes a back seat to their “princess”. Disagreements are not settled with arguments, but more with clarity-seeking conversations, Mandi says.
“Constant conversations clear up any confusion over our roles and vision for the company. Also, we never leave the house without praying.”
Although there aren’t any rules, they do spend time apart. Billy went on a trip to Swaziland with his friends for his 30th birthday this year and Mandi has her girl times, “where I dress up and go out with them”. But they are mostly together, she says, “which makes it quite a task to plan surprises for one another”.
THE CONFECTIONERS
Neil and Denise Glezer-Jones own and run Caring Candies, manufacturers of sugar-free confectionery, in Cape Town. They have two children, aged 14 and 10.
The idea for their business was conceived after Denise started a sugar-free diet and found most sugar-free products include artificial sweeteners, artificial colourants and preservatives, which caused her to have heart palpitations.
Neil, an accountant, and Denise, who had her own web design business, threw themselves wholeheartedly into researching alternatives.
“We developed our first sugar-free sweets without artificial sweeteners or flavourants on our kitchen stove. We then tried them on friends and family and of course our most demanding critics, our children,” recalls Neil.
Realising they had a winner on their hands, they found a contract manufacturer, but three years later, in 2007, decided to open their first factory in Milnerton. By the end of that year, they had a second factory, and earlier this year, moved into their third.
“There are times we don’t agree. I am not proud of it, but I actually fired Denise once for two days,” laughs Neil, adding that it was then that they realised there had to be a clear definition of roles. They also realised early on that they needed their own separate spaces in the factory.
“Neil moved into an upstairs office, and I occupy the downstairs office. We would’ve quickly got irritated with each other otherwise. I am very loud and talkative, and that annoys Neil if he is trying to concentrate on the accounting side of things,” says Denise, who handles customer services and communications, while Neil manages the finances.
The big plus in working together, says Neil, is knowing that you can trust your partner 100 percent. “It takes away a lot of potential negative thoughts one can have in business,” he says. The downside? “In a dispute, you can tend to be harsher with your spouse than you would be with any employee,” says Neil. To avoid it, you have to show the same respect to your partner as you would to any colleague, he says.
THE PRS
Gavin Moffat and Ingrid Lotze are joint managing directors of Puruma Business Communications, which specialises in public relations, marketing, social media and web strategy. They met in 1998 when Ingrid interviewed Gavin at a PR company where she was deputy MD.
“No fireworks. She was just a sexy boss woman doing the interview,” smiles Gavin.
A business partnership followed at the end of that year, well before marriage. “We both went through divorces and after that we fell in love. At first we kept our relationship low key as we weren’t sure whether it was a fling or something more serious. We also didn’t want to jeopardise our businesses and client relationships,” says Gavin. Marriage involved integrating two families – Gavin has a daughter, 15, and Ingrid has a daughter, 18, and a son, 20.
From the start, Gavin had a more operational role in their business, running legal, financial and new business. Ingrid runs human resources, customer relationship management and new business. “Our respective careers in PR allowed us to bring something special to our clients in the form of two people with similar levels of knowledge and passion, but different approaches to problem-solving and strategy,” says Ingrid.
Their business relationship is quite feisty, she admits. “There was robust debate initially, but we worked together very well right from the start. We had distinct roles and strengths. But we are both competitive, so we had to use that without its being destructive. To iron out disagreements we always talk things through and find middle ground,” says Ingrid.
While they do spend time apart, Gavin and Ingrid say they enjoy being together at home and at work. “We really enjoy each other’s company,” says Gavin. But clear boundaries are in place when it comes to conversation. “We don’t talk work after hours, and very early on, Wednesday became date night. We also take short vacations together without our children so that we connect person to person, and not only business partner to partner,” says Ingrid.
Gavin and Ingrid also share a passion for scuba diving, and have dived an amazing 103m deep together. - The Star