It Is Virtually Impossible For One Person To Run A Business… You Need An Anchor! 

– David and Maryjane Edochie

(MD/CEO, and Executive Director, Elephant Textiles Industry – ETI)

Last week, on SuccessDigest Marketplace Advertisers’ catalog, we talked about Business Partnership – Is Partnership Really Necessary For Your Small Business Growth? Click here to find out, if you missed that edition.

One of the things that scare people away from business partnerships is a lack of trust and agreement. This issue, I have realized, cuts across all relationships, not just business.

You’ll assume that the first person anyone should trust is their spouse but, for whatever reasons some people do not even trust their spouses enough to make them their next of kin in any documentation process, or, operate a joint account let alone, a partner in business.

For others, they hardly agree on anything. So, in other to avoid the numerous conflicts or crises that may occur, they’d rather mind their separate businesses.

Then, there’s another group that does not believe in putting their financial eggs in one basket, so they are cautious enough to tow their separate paths in business

However, tough as doing business is in Nigeria, I want to confirm to you that it’s possible to start and grow a business especially when you go into partnership with your better half.

Pastor (Dr.) Emmanuel-Sunny and Pastor (Mrs.) Esther Ojeagbase are the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the leading sports publishing company in Nigeria, Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Football and, Complete Sports; a company they teamed up to establish in 1984.

After successfully establishing and taking Complete Communications Limited from the ground floor up, the couple whose passion for helping the less privileged to grow and; human development for a positive mindset and financial freedom/independence, is second to none, again teamed up to co-found Success Attitude Development Centre, SADC in 1995.

The NGO, SADC, is the publisher of Nigeria’s number one Life-changing Magazine, SuccessDigest, which metamorphosed into SuccessDigest Extra!, SDE, also Nigeria’s number one Multiple Stream Of Income Newspaper in 2006 and now, Digital SuccessDigest (DSD), The Ultimate Guide to Digital Marketing.

There are several other examples of couples in Nigeria who are Business Partners and are doing great and excelling side by side.

In this Valentine’s special edition of SuccessDigest Marketplace Advertisers’ Catalog, we bring you a couple that has partnered in business for 22 years and still counting, David and Maryjane Edochie – the MD/CEO, and Executive Director of Elephant Textiles Industry (ETI).

Has it been all rosy without thorns? Find out in their conversation with SuccessDigest Marketplace…

Please introduce yourselves to our readers, tell us briefly about your business, how did it start?

My name is Edochie David, the MD/CEO of Elephant Textiles Limited (ETI). I run Elephant Textiles limited and our business is located in Lagos. To the glory of God, we are doing well. I manage the business with my partner, my wife – Mrs. Maryjane Edochie – an Executive Director in the business

Though we had our different businesses before we got married, the new company started after we got married in 1999.

At What point in business did you realize that you needed a partner and the right person is your wife?

David: There’s a saying in my local dialect that, “one person cannot be a limited company.” It is virtually impossible for one person to run a business. You need an anchor. But in choosing a business partner, trust is essential. If there is no trust, a partnership cannot exist. No matter how you structure and organize the system. The system may deliver based on its capacity but, the fundamental in doing business and sustaining growth is trust. Who can one trust better than his or her spouse?

Your spouse will succeed you in any way especially if you have children. No one can be a better support for you or sustain your legacies better than your spouse – your husband or wife. Business demands trust and this trust will be best found in your spouse. That’s why we, as a couple, deem it fit to partner together in business. So far, so good, it’s been 22 years now.

In what way would you say this partnership has helped the business, considering that it was at a startup stage when you and your wife agreed to partner?

David: Though we work together most of the time, there’s always time for private business management. For instance, there comes a time in life when the woman needs to give birth to children and as such requires a break. She will be excused from work. So also the man, a time will come that he becomes exhausted and needs a break. There’s a portion of the bible that says, “Iron sharpens iron”, wood cannot sharpen iron. At the point of your exhaustion, your partner takes over, stands in for you where necessary, and supports you with ideas, encouragement, and resources, and you will bubble up again.

Brainstorming together, sharing ideas, giving support, and encouraging each other is a lifeline for business growth. Who can do these things better? It has to be your spouse who understands your psychology, heartbeats, and emotions.

In the whole of the 22years of partnership, has there been any time that you clashed and you feel like doing the business alone and no longer involving your spouse?

David: There have been such occasions but beyond the business, there is also the fitness part. And like I said earlier, there are times when one gets really exhausted. In the early years of the business, the pressure and stress of doing the business get one really irritated and there’s a likelihood of transferred aggression. But over the years, I have learned that when I am feeling like I have overworked myself and exhausted I need some space and some time to rest. Once I am well rested I will be refreshed.

We’ve been able to establish and grow the business in a way that it runs itself. At this stage, we only give directions and make inputs. The other partners – members of staff – will deliver on their terms of reference. Once we have given them the idea and directions, we are able to give ourselves space. As they say, “health is wealth”. As we do the business, we ensure that we live a healthy lifestyle. It’s not like our entire life is on the business. These days, we don’t have problems with running the business. We are not under any form of pressure because we have delegated power and duties so that the workers can run the business without much supervision.

Maryjane: There have been tough situations and challenges along the way but none of these have made me feel put off or want to detach from the business. We have the word of God backing us up, one of such verses in the scriptures found in Amos 3:3 says, “Can two work together except they agree?”

When the challenges come, we try to manage them, and with the Word of God which has been our propelling force, we keep sailing together.

We understand that the business started with just the two of you in 1999, what’s the size of the business now?

David: Our business has grown into a medium-scale enterprise. The entire group has well over 300 employees. The business has really grown and given birth to several other businesses. From the beginning of this year, 2022, we have gone into big scale mining of solid minerals and in the next 10 years, we hope to be the biggest mining company in Nigeria.

We understand that, for businesses to run at this level, people must be empowered, and, as I said earlier, an individual cannot make a limited liability company. For a business to run perfectly, hands must be on deck, we need healthy men and women, young people, and middle-aged people must be involved so that we can be able to achieve our goals.

What do you have to say about the challenges of doing business in Nigeria, how have you been able to overcome them?

David: The Nigerian business environment is harsh. First of all, if you want to do business in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, you must be a “street man”, no matter the kind of business you are running.

Almost everything is an impediment in this environment – poor electricity supply, bad roads, the traffic jam is terrible especially in Lagos. Recently, I saw a newspaper headline that says, “Lagos loses about NGN4trn annually to road traffic.” From that rating, if you live or work in Lagos, you will know that the figure is much more than that.

People who are doing well in emerging economies like China and other parts of the world do not put in a quarter of the efforts that their Nigerian counterparts are putting into growing and sustaining their business. But their efforts pay and yield more.

Talk about manpower, staff management – using the system to manage them is a herculean task. For instance, mining training in Nigeria is a problem. We have a culture of training only those who have gone through formal educational institutions.

Conditioning the minds of the people is also a key to business growth and sustenance. Managing people in Nigeria is really difficult because a lot of people already have a wrong mindset about making money and that mindset cannot help any business. That’s also one of the major issues affecting the public sector.

So you see, managing a business is entirely a different ballgame here. You need to apply extra strength, capacity, deploy technology and raise the bar by all standards. Anything short of that will make you burn your fingers if you are an investor in this environment. The business environment here is so shrewd, that it’s only the dogged that can make it.

I’ll advise the small business owner in Nigeria to be a street person, raise the bar, deploy technology and be ready to resolve the problems that you may encounter down the line.

After all the hard work and pressure of doing business, how to you unwind?

David: Life is the head of wealth because, when there is life, there is hope. If you do not unwind, you will be wound. It is compulsory for you as a business owner to take time to relax. As I speak to you, it’s about 11 am, I am still at home. I have just finished my exercise, had my bath and I sat down to go through my social media accounts and reply to some messages.

During the summer holidays, we pick a destination and we go here to have a good time as a family. As we grow older, our input on the business reduces so we have more time to relax and do other things.

How do you separate the home front from the workplace?

Maryjane: Well, I understand that at home, he is my husband and loved one and we relate on that level, but at in the office, it’s strictly business. We set up a target and all hands are on deck to ensure that we meet up.

Who is more passionate about the business?

Maryjane: We are both passionate about the business, we just tend to see the huge responsibility falling on the shoulder of the man but the passion is on both sides. That’s what drives us to put in our very best to ensure that the business succeeds.

A lot of women are not interested in their husband’s business they just leave him to do his thing and bring the money home. What’s your advice for such women?

Maryjane: When you have God at the center of your relationship, it helps you to fine-tune every other thing. We started together under the influence of the God factor and this has helped us to harmonize working together and we have no regrets.

I’ll encourage couples to come together and see how they can work together as partners. Give it a try and ensure put God at the center of it. It’s only God that will help you come out with a success story like ours.

God’s original plan for man and woman is to stay together, to do things together, to agree, and have a common ground. So there is no error in partnering with your spouse in business. Just allow God’s Word to be the leading factor.

You must also ensure that you put on the character of tolerance because there will be reasons to disagree along the line. Understand your temperament and works and work on them. This will go a long way to calm the storms that may come.

Work on yourselves and your character, and you are good to go.

We hope you gained some useful insights here. We invite your comments and questions on this topic and, if there are other topics that you would like us to discuss, kindly send them via email to [email protected] and we will treat them!