A Marriage of Professionals:
Husband-and-Wife Entrepreneurs in India Support Each Other
Emotionally and Strategically
Divya Medar always loved being a
chef, but the former Taj Group of Hotels employee also wanted to start her own
business. The downside was that she also enjoyed working with her husband,
Gopi, a fellow Taj chef. But in November 2007, Medar -- who completed the
10,000 Women program hosted by the Indian School of Business in association
with Goldman Sachs, Wharton and other universities -- was able to realize her
goals. "I was on medical leave and decided it would be a good time to
start my own company," notes Divya, 26, who today, with 32-year-old Gopi,
owns Krsna Bhog, a food consulting and manufacturing services firm in
Hyderabad.
Divya started the firm soon after
their marriage, and her husband followed her into the business a few months
later. "We both put in long hours together at the Taj group so we knew we could
work alongside each other without stepping on each other's toes," Divya
says. "Working together has worked out well." The couple's
12-employee company offers ready-to-eat snacks, culinary consulting, catering
and training services.
New Entrepreneurial Spirit in India
Traditional cultural pressures in
India have long been a barrier to women operating as equal business partners,
let alone co-owning an enterprise with their husbands, says Kavil Ramachandran,
a chaired professor of family business and wealth management at the Indian
School of Business and academic director of ISB's 10,000 Women program.
"But social outlooks can change, particularly when the economy drives more
women into the workforce," he notes. "Anecdotally, an increasing
number of women appear to be working alongside their husbands. It's too early
to call it a widespread movement, but India has long had an entrepreneurial
spirit, and this may be the latest manifestation of it."
The couple did face some questions
from family members, Divya recalls, but she says it wasn't particularly
hostile. "We had just married a few months before launching the
business," she says. "So some of the family was concerned about how
it might affect our relationship. In India, the son traditionally supports the
family, and some older members couldn't understand why we both wanted to work.
We're happy working together, and we support each other emotionally and
strategically. Running a business on your own can be tough, but we complement
each other, so if one feels emotionally down, the other can pick you up."
A key to their success is that
husband and wife have focused on individual areas of specialization. "We
have different working styles, which could present a challenge if we constantly
clashed," Divya states. "So it was important to segregate our
responsibilities." Divya primarily handles marketing and interacts with
the firm's sales force, while Gopi deals with operations. Of course they swap
responsibilities as needed to keep the company running at peak efficiency.
"In the beginning, we hadn't planned to go into business together,
especially so soon after getting married," notes Gopi. "But with both
of us in the industry, things just worked out." Gopi adds that 20 years
ago they would have likely faced stiff resistance from society. "Today,
however, more women are working and we never felt it was a serious
problem."
For Divya, the ability to
successfully work as a husband/wife operation helps to reinforce the couple's
emotional bond. "When the business is going through a difficult period,
that's when you know if your relationship will work," she says. "As
entrepreneurs, you bring your office problems back home, but if you can support
each other even through that, you'll know things will work out at the office and
at home."
Safe Secrets and Total Trust
Husband-and-wife entrepreneurial
teams must navigate a host of challenges in order to strike that kind of
personal/professional balance. Vasantha Sukumar and her husband, Sukumar
Sannthanam, weren't too worried about marital friction 10 years ago when they
co-launched V Choice, a Bangalore-based textiles manufacturing shop. "We
each drew on our experiences," says Vasantha, who handled administrative
duties for an international consumer products firm before going out on her own.
Today she handles customer relations and other activity at V Choice's two
showrooms -- having burnished her negotiation and other skills at ISB's Goldman
Sachs 10,000 Women program -- while her husband, a former engineer, takes care
of procurement and marketing. When it comes to business strategy, "We
discuss a lot of things and reach a decision together," she notes.
"But at the end of the day, we try to leave business challenges in the
office instead of bringing them home with us."
The husband-wife business model
offers some advantages, Vasantha adds. "We totally trust each other,"
she says. "We know that neither of us will ever talk about company secrets
to outsiders. Also, our trust in each other lets us reach decisions quickly,
and we don't look to blame one another if things don't work out as
expected."
Sannthanam says he knew early on
that his wife had a good business sense and would prosper as an entrepreneur.
"I saw she had clear, honest ideas and we were both willing to work to
succeed," he notes. "Our efforts quickly gained momentum, and now we
are ready to move to the next growth step, possibly to begin exporting our
product. The knowledge my wife has gained at ISB will be very helpful in these
efforts."
Sannthanam mirrors his wife's approach
to separating work from home life. "There have to be boundaries," he
notes. "We don't bring home issues to work, and we don't bring work issues
home."
Despite sharing their
decision-making responsibilities in an equitable manner, Sannthanam acknowledges
that in one significant way Vasantha does shoulder some additional work.
"My wife is still the primary caregiver when it comes to our
children," he says. "She's taking care of them and contributing to
our business. So I'd have to say my wife does more work than me."
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/10000women/article.cfm?articleid=6131
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