In this article, we understand what makes ‘copreneurship’ tick, as three entrepreneurial couples in diverse industries—medicine, entertainment and IT—share the success of their joint ventures not just from nine to five, but round the clock
During the final stages of the making of Bollywood’s magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar, Executive Producer, Sunita Gowariker, had to spend a whole day away from work to attend a parent-teacher meeting at her son Vishwang’s school.
This did not ruffle the stiff timelines of her film production company—you see, Sunita’s business partner is also her life partner. Maker of the legendary film Lagaan, Ashutosh Gowariker willingly took on additional film-production priorities to relieve his spouse.
Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd. (AGPPL) one of the industry’s top film production companies, is a fine example of the burgeoning phenomenon of “copreneurs” (couple entrepreneurs) in India. Successful husband-wife ventures are indeed about two ‘marriages’ being made in heaven. In this article, we understand what makes ‘copreneurship’ tick, as three entrepreneurial couples in diverse industries—medicine, entertainment and IT—share the success of their joint ventures not just from nine to five, but round the clock.
Amongst these, the oldest ‘copreneurial’ venture, Nethradhama Eye Hospital, started by Dr Sri Ganesh and his anaesthesiologist wife Dr Suman Shree is an inspiring story of successful teamwork laced with mutual respect, trust and, of course, love. After post-graduation, Dr Ganesh did his fellowship in the US. Despite his brilliant academic record, he did not land a great job in India and then, as a young parent, he recalls, “We were at crossroads—whether to work in the US or to start my own practice in India. My sister and brother-in-law are doctors settled in the US, who urged us then to relocate to the US. Both Suman and I somehow felt that we needed to stay back and provide quality care to our people.”
It was this conviction that propelled them to overcome their initial hurdles and set up a small consultancy in a single room. Slowly but surely, goodwill and appreciation from patients helped their practice grow and Dr Ganesh acknowledges his spouse’s equal contribution, “Suman supported me in my endeavors and though she was initially associated with NIMHANS hospital in neuro-anesthesia, she would assist me in the operation theater and provide anesthesia support whenever required.” Anchored by their common vision, the modest one-room consultation grew over time into a state-of-the-art super-specialty eye hospital with branches in Bangalore and Mangalore. Having witnessed her husband at work in the operation theater while overseeing the anesthetic procedure, Dr. Suman Shree gives credit to her husband’s genius. To quote her, “My husband’s technical expertise, coupled with his presence of mind, has grown our practice.”
This doctor duo later started Shraddha Eye Care Trust, a 100-bed non-profit, charitable trust to provide eye care to the underprivileged. In the past three years, this trust, which conducts rural eye camps has performed over 8500 free cataract surgeries. Looking back closely at their 14-year journey from a tiny practice, this gifted eye surgeon’s heartfelt verdict is “Working together to help the world see better is something both Suman and I enjoy and it has strengthened our personal bond even further.”
Helping the world see better might not be the only kind of motivation for couples to start ventures together. Getting to have a meal together was one of the incentives for the Shahs to work together to start Skelta, a software product company. Having lived in the US since the early ‘80s, both had worked extensively at the companies there. Sanjay’s supposed six-month stint to India extended itself with his family moving bag and baggage to India in 1997. “Before Sanjay agreed to join me to take over the reins of Skelta (erstwhile NetGalactica), we worked at offices that were very close by. Despite this, we would never get to do lunch together. Brainstorming for ideas with Sanjay, be it when we built our house in the US or when I was running a video-store chain, had been a lot of fun. So the thought of working with him seemed like a very exciting prospect,” Kalpa Shah, co-founder of NetGalactica and head of Skelta’s HR, Marketing, User Interface divisions stated. Having grown from a two member startup to a 120-member strong company, Kalpa was convinced that her husband’s 19 years of management and product development expertise would give them the necessary push to grow the business in enterprise-wide business process management workflow software solutions.
While personal integrity is the other big plus of starting a venture together, the Shahs are aware that Skelta, a product of their entrepreneurial passions, can call forth differences of opinions. “We agree to disagree without losing business focus” says Sanjay Shah, CEO, Skelta “and though we might be vociferous when we are at home, we try hard to maintain a professional exterior while at management meetings.” Mutual respect in the other’s capabilities helps in conflict-handling. Sanjay recalls, “There was a time when Kalpa took steps to allay some attrition issues. It, then, seemed financially impractical but it was her call as the HR head and, in hindsight, I admit it was an effective strategy.” Kalpa, in turn, reiterates the respect in her better half by adding, “If we in the management team meetings cannot come to a consensus, Sanjay is clearly the person we look up to for resolving differences and his decision then is final. We try to make sure our differing view points don’t jeopardize our relationship as our personal relationship is indeed the cornerstone of Skelta.”
Trust in each other’s abilities too plays a pivotal part in the triumph of ‘copreneurships’. Actor-turned-director Ashutosh says, “I had noticed my wife’s talent at handling my purse. Film production would mean handling just another purse… a much larger purse though! So 13 years into our marriage, while mulling over the idea of getting into film production, which would give me few more liberties as a director, Sunita’s “Yes” gave birth to AGPPL.” Having majored in psychology, Sunita’s people-handling capabilities came very handy when she took on film production. Her go-getter attitude almost goes unnoticed when she modestly accepts, “As I had never done any production work, I knew I had to quickly learn and excel at it. Producing a film largely depends on your skills to negotiate and your ability to deal with people. The first film we produced was Swades, a co-production with UTV Motion Pictures Plc, which was keen to associate with Ashutosh after ‘Lagaan’. Today I can’t imagine doing anything else.” She confesses, “I am more conservative by nature and like to do things that are set and secure. So when Ashu suggested my moving into production, my knee-jerk reaction was, Oh God! How are we going to do this?! In hindsight, I think I had the confidence within me, otherwise I would not have taken it up as there is a huge amount of money involved and the risk is too high.”
How did this famed duo wade through the diverse challenges of film production, impossible deadlines, media attention, medical contingencies (Ashutosh having suffered a serious back injury) and domestic imperatives before the thumping success of the mega production Jodhaa Akbar? Sunita gives due credit to the complementary nature of their roles, adding, “We have clear functional demarcations for the benefit of our employees and stakeholders. As both of us work towards the same goal, it makes things simpler. We have a simple division of labor—Ashu takes care of everything creative and I oversee commercial and administrative undertakings. That is what each one of us does best.”
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