Ep 54 // Building an Empire while Having a 9-5 with Kuorkor Dzani

NOTE: Please excuse any errors in this transcript; it was created using an AI tool. Akua Nyame-Mensah 0:07 Welcome to the open door podcast. My name is Akua Nyame-Mensah. I also respond to Aqua and I'm a certified executive and leadership coach recognised facilitator and former sort of leader that loves supporting reluctant buyer fighting and overwhelmed leaders. I've worked with them to help them clarify where they should focus their time and energy each and every day so that they can love themselves, love their work, and ultimately love their life. If you're looking to learn leadership information and hear different perspectives, you are in the right place. My aim in this podcast is to help you see that one of the most productive and profitable things you can do is deeply understand yourself. Understand how you show up, understand how you thrive, and allow yourself to align everything in your work in your life, and in your business to support that think of this podcast as your weekly opportunity to receive leadership support. And remember, there is no one right way to lead yourself or others. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. Let's get started. Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the open door conversations podcast. I am so excited about this week's episode. And we talk all about building an empire while having a nine to five. So if you want to hear about how one entrepreneur has built five businesses, that's right, five businesses while having a nine to five, keep listening. I am so excited today to have this conversation with Coco Zani. One, it's been a long time in the making. I've been trying to get her on my podcast since I actually launched it about a year ago. And then secondly, I just think that she's a phenomenal, inspiring human being who supported me in my own life as well. So I'm so excited to have a chance to speak with her. And we're gonna be talking about building an empire while having a nine to five. So Coco, welcome to the show. Unknown Speaker 2:20 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Akua Nyame-Mensah 2:22 So for folks who are meeting you for the first time, could you please share a little bit about who you are and what you do. Speaker 1 2:28 So as you said, my name is cualquier Gianni, and I believe that I am entrepreneur, I think that's my core. That's what I do. That's what I enjoy. I like new ideas. I like starting businesses, I like brainstorming about businesses, and I really just like talking about I like talking about business and about drugs. So yeah, you can find me always chatting with someone and trying to understand what they're doing suggesting things to them. That just just makes me happy. Akua Nyame-Mensah 2:58 Yes. And you make other people happy with the businesses that you build as well, which I think is so incredibly unique, right? So beyond your nine to five, right, one of the businesses that you have, yeah, that you have actually helps to transform people's lives. Right? Can you tell us a little bit about you know, your businesses? Actually, no, let's start with your nine to five, tell us what you do nine to five, and then tell us about some of the businesses that you have. Okay, Speaker 1 3:24 so nine to five, I work in Finance. And Ghana, when you say where can finance people. I'm not sure what that means. But it's sort of I use it as a catch all term to talk about being in lending. So I work in a local lender. And that's something I've been doing for 10 years. And it's exciting. It also gives me the opportunity to have impact on companies and get insights into their operations. So it feels the same, the same desire that I have. And to a certain extent, you could say that's where the that desire was, that passion for business was birth. So yeah, so that's the nine to five. And I also have right now I have, I would say, three businesses, well, let's say for businesses, so the one that's the oldest and the one that's been going on for the longest is crystal locks. I believe we began in 2009, September there abouts. And so this year would make it what like 14 years I think, Akua Nyame-Mensah 4:20 yeah, that's amazing. Speaker 1 4:22 It's a teenager, it's a teenager. And it's a natural hair salon. And obviously when we began it was the first of its kind in Ghana and I I own it now and I'm happy to say that I contribute to the changing the conversation, the space and the landscape of the hair game in Ghana. So that's the main baby Twister locks. And then I also during the pandemic pandemic was a good time to have babies. I parent another one, which is Indigo lifestyle. Indigo lifestyle was just to enable me to feel that it's of what more can I do to enhance to Celox extent So, I have protested or I resisted getting into the products game for a number of years, but I finally got into the products game. But being who I am, I like natural hair products, body care products, but I like other things. So Indigo lifestyle really just allows me to play. So we do fabric silk fabric there, we're looking at making some clothes, some just resort where we do accessories. We have a line for men that the men love beard care, oils, body butters, all that good stuff. And then there's kitty met kitty met my four year old now I have a four year old son. And when I had him, I was very into homoeopathic, or non toxic remedies or solutions. And I didn't find many options in Ghana. So what I did is I began importing stuff in and just selling it online. So that's kidney Med, kidney met, the vision is for it to actually be bigger than just an online shop. I just need to gather myself. But it's to make sure that it's a space that not just import stuff themselves, but also makes products that are non toxic, organic and geared towards the babies, the kids and mothers. Yeah. And then the recent baby is, Joe, we underscore the brand or the brand. And that's in collaboration with a partner. And that's a clothing line, this amazing tailor that I met who was doing some stuff for me. And he was like, Yeah, you want a partner in doing corporate work for women in Ghana. And I said, of course, because again, I had just been complaining about the struggle to actually get nicely made quality fabric well designed to suit our bodies, just things that you would put on and just feel amazing. Yes. So that's really the brand. And that's, that's going well, I'm really, really, really he's super talented. I do the I do the money and the critique and the oh, we like this. We don't like that stuff. But I must say that it's all this stuff is really exciting. Because clothing is so personal. And when you see someone who may be lost a lot of weight has, has just sort of gotten back into the work environment. And they were a new wardrobe, the transformation, the confidence, the energy boost. And just it's beautiful to watch, because it's actually visible. Akua Nyame-Mensah 7:13 Amazing. I literally got goosebumps as you started to describe that. And that's why, you know, when I was talking about the fact that you have these different ventures, I feel like everything that you're doing, one comes from your own struggles, a challenge that you saw, and maybe even a challenge that you went through, and you are helping to transform people's lives. Right. To your point about your first business. I remember that was the first I think the only time I would ever go to a salon, when I first was coming back to Ghana was to go to your salon, that was literally the only place where they could do my hair. And if so many women have been introduced to how to even use their own hair, because of the work that you've done. And the fact that you've built out so many salons now how many salons Do you have? So we have three branches? Amazing, amazing. There are a lot of different things that you do, how do you create the time for all these different initiatives, projects and businesses that you have? Speaker 1 8:07 So I love schedules, I love structure. But it's not what people think when I say I love schedules, I love structure on my own, I'm very flowing, things can go anyway. But what I do is I like to know what I'm working on at any point in time. So one of the things I do is, instead of having all these ideas, or all these things that are on my to do list swimming in my head, I write them down. And then I know that okay, for this time period, I'm working on a. So sometimes I know that okay, this week, I'm doing stuff mainly focus on twists and locks. So what does that mean, I focus purely on twist a lot, whether it is creativity, whether it is what are we doing for the next half of the year, all that good stuff is done. And then there's actual physically being there present, dealing with things on the ground, when I'm done with it, I'm done with it. Like when I say I'm done with them. There are times when I don't step in the salad for a month or in like, you know, two weeks because it's not on my agenda, it doesn't mean that I don't have conversations around, it doesn't mean that I don't you know, send messages at all, but it's not my primary focus. And so I think when I do that, that enables me to actually be more efficient, to be more productive, and also to be more creative. Akua Nyame-Mensah 9:20 I love that. Yeah. And I guess also more present, right? Because I think we spoke a bit about this before we started recording, but you're not so worried about all the other things that you're working on. Because you know, you've already allocated time, and you will honour that time that you've allocated. I love that Speaker 1 9:36 and I will be present and I will give my best and my full self towards that. It's not like oh, well what about this? No, no, we're dealing with this right now. Akua Nyame-Mensah 9:44 Yeah, so this is this is a bit I guess, taking us in a bit of a different direction. But I'm just really curious because you have seen I think firsthand the evolution of natural hair and across specifically, what have you seen around and black hair and professionalism. You know, what are the shifts? What are the changes? And what would you like other women to keep in mind in relation to that. Speaker 1 10:08 So there's a there's a friend of mine that we used to talk about this may be second 2011 2012, we used to talk about the fads, because they've been stages in Ghana, there have been so many stages. And it's, I mean, I feel like an old lady now talking about this stuff. But there was a time when it was not okay to have natural hair. Now, it's not just trendy, but it's very visible. And the good thing about now is you can go into a company and you find at least one person, especially the millennials, with natural hair, and before when we like, you know, working in the banking sector, so you have to be conservative. And the reason why you have to be conservative, at least for me was when you have hair that attracts too much attention, instead of focusing on what you have to say, everyone starts talking about your hair. So that for me was the most annoying thing. So you want hair you want to have a hairstyle or to keep your hair in a way that isn't distracting. So you know, you do cornrows, things that are simple things that are controlled things that are I guess, you know, demure. I don't know how to describe it. But yeah, conservative. Now that millennials don't care, they show up with a ponytail with a watch and go with like a blowout. And they wait what? So they are very, very, the outside, they're more liberated, they're more confident. And I think their work environment has become more tolerant. I always give the example of the fact that in Ghana, we've had a first lady who had dreadlocks people forget, but forgotten her first name, Mrs. Mahama ladina Mahama. She has dreadlocks. And if you understand the tradition and the cultural context of dreadlocks in Ghana, some traditional spiritualist have dreadlocks and so it's considered to be something that is very negative, especially by the Christian community, and is also used to be associated with oh, people who are mad and so they are dirty, unkempt. So if someone at that level is showing it and styling it, it then helps to break and shatter that stereotype. So we've had other prominent women in positions of power, also having their natural hair. So all those things have helped. Obviously, this the stuff that the media has done, I mean by being in TV and adverts, so the cool factors there, but I think that there are a lot of things that have changed. And now having natural hair is more of a Wow, you're a confident person. Well, you're an interesting person. Well, you have your own opinions and and you sort of not conservative, I think is really what it is. It's more of the avant garde. Yeah. Akua Nyame-Mensah 12:42 Oh, so interesting. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I mean, one of the things I remember this was probably back in pelvis wasn't wasn't that long ago, I guess it was back in 2013. I remember, you know, being at work and someone you know, making a comment about my Afro and I was so surprised. So Unknown Speaker 13:00 strange, but it was strange. Akua Nyame-Mensah 13:03 It was yes. And then that's something I didn't appreciate, I think at the time, and I think it's through looking back and reflecting on Oh, wow, yep. This was not something that a lot of people thought was appropriate. And so things really have shifted and changed. Exactly. Yeah. So what advice do you have for potential entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that do have a nine to five, but also want to build other businesses and build other things beyond their nine to five? Speaker 1 13:29 I think one thing that has been coming up recently, just in conversation with people is that you need to learn to let go, I think the moment I realised that I cannot be excellent at my nine to five and my other businesses, was instrumental in me say, Okay, I need to hire a competent person. Now, the key word is competent, because when you think you can do it all you end up hiring people and saying, Oh, they will just do this, and I will be the main person. But once you realise you can't, you need to then think, okay, how can I clone myself? So how can I have someone who's as good as I am, or almost as good as I am to run my business for me, and that takes a lot of trust, that takes a lot of humility. That takes a lot of realising what you are good at and what you're not good at, and nobody is good at everything. I am not the best when it comes to, I wouldn't say customer relations. But in Ghana, when it comes to here. The women like to be pampered. They like to be in they like to be crud crud, they like people to come to them and be like, Oh, anti, anti or anti. I don't know how to do that. Like, I don't I'm not doing like that. I'm very like, oh, yeah, it's good. All right, thank you, but they want someone who's going to be sitting next to them. Oh, auntie, Auntie, you unscented. I can't do that. So my manager is amazing at that. She enjoys it. It's natural to her. And so she shines at it, because I know that I'm not good at it. Let's say the things that she could do better I am able to park and I'm like, okay, she doesn't do XYZ well, but she does all these other things well, so you know what, let's probably hire someone who can fill those gaps so that she has the complement of skills that she needs to excel. And it is knowing that I can do that as well. If I were doing this full time, I will do so many things differently. I can't do this full time. So who can do it as good as I can? And what support does the person need? Akua Nyame-Mensah 15:23 I love that. And I think that that's, that's incredibly tangible and very actionable for everyone listening, right? So really becoming really curious about, you know, what are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? And how can I find someone potentially, to compliment me, and I think that's something we don't necessarily look out for as leaders, I think a lot of times we look out for people who are like us, like I like that person, they remind me of me, and maybe it's more of that person's a bit different. They can do this, I'm not good at it. I want them on my team. Speaker 1 15:52 Exactly. And I think one thing that also helps us we are in a country where we have a lot of skilled people, a lot of people with talent, but they don't know it. And we often they are diamonds in the rough. So you have to look beyond the things that you might traditionally say, because someone can come to you and say I'm a great salesperson, they can say that great salesperson, they get down to it, they can actually do the job. But then you can walk into a shop and the lady who gets you to buy three extra makeup, things that you hadn't planned on, that's a great salesperson. So she might not look the part. But that's a great salesperson. So that's the person you should actually poach. It's not the one who comes to the CV and then and then they might have to talk but they don't have the skill. Akua Nyame-Mensah 16:34 I love that. So making sure that you're also seeing people in action, and seeing what they actually can can bring to the table. I'm curious, how do you build trust? Because that's something I think I hear a lot from leaders in both not just Ghana, but also Nigeria as well. How do you build trust, Speaker 1 16:51 you have to act like a fool anymore. I found out the only way to build trust is to try and to trust. It doesn't take, you might be lucky. And you will have someone and they will be amazing on the first go. But at the same time, you might have to hire 567 different people. The point is, are you learning from the early hires, what to look out for? Are you making sure that the things that you were sort of swayed by are not swaying you anymore? Are you putting in better systems? Earlier I mentioned to you that my accountant of 03 years, three years, he's leaving to another role. And I'm upset, apparently I pushed him into the role. I told him that, oh, he should explore, you know, other things. And so he's doing data analysis, and then he's leaving. So I'm upset about that. So I'm looking to hire an accountant and interviewing people, one of the things I am looking out for is okay, the person needs to be able to come and shadow him. Yeah, be able to just because at the end of the day, it's not what they say they can do. It's about whether they can actually do it. And then when the person comes on board, I will have to trust them. Now, if they don't do a good job, I'll fire them. Because before I got this accountant, I had to go through a number of them. And that's okay. Yes, the business might take a hit. Or they might things might be a little slow. But once you have to do is you have to put systems in place. So I work with some audit consultants as well so that no matter who the main accountant is, there's someone who provides oversight, so that whenever there's a gap, they can step in and fill in and say, Okay, this is where we were. And then so this is what's going on, because that can be really tricky as well. So yes, you have to put systems in place around the trust. But really, the only way is to actually just be a fool and go ahead and trust. Akua Nyame-Mensah 18:44 It's got to do it, jump in wholeheartedly. And like you said, Just be ready to shift and pivot if necessary. Speaker 1 18:52 People quickly don't want too much time. Don't be overly sentimental. Don't Don't get stuck in the idea that oh my goodness, this guy, like I could say, oh, man, that's so great. I won't find anyone as good as and that's not true. That's not true, because I haven't met the infinite opportunities or people that are out there. So I just need to try and find someone else. Akua Nyame-Mensah 19:10 Now, once again, I think this is such great advice. And I think it leads me to my next question around. How do you separate yourself from your businesses? Because a lot of what you do, obviously, right? Your pour a lot of creativity into it, you pour a lot of love into it. And I'm sure you know, when you get negative feedback or a negative review. How does that feel? And how do you work through that? Speaker 1 19:32 So I will begin by talking about the negative feedback and how to work through it and then talk later about how do you separate yourself but how I have separated myself. So obviously, in the first four or five years, I was very attached because I kept saying that's my name. That's my face, if anything goes wrong and remember, natural hair, hair salon, it's service. It's very intimate. So things go wrong. That's just the nature of the industry and And I would hear bad news, it'd be in the office or some kind of complaint. And then I would just, you know, just it would really just crushed you over time, I've realised that okay, people are more forgiving than we think they are. There are people who have been with us, since 2009, the very beginning, people have been with us since 2012. And they come, it doesn't mean that the experiences have all been amazing. They have had one or two bad experiences, but they still come. So it's knowing that, and they have actually said to me, it's like, you're doing a good thing. This wasn't great. Can you work on this part? But overall, you're doing a good thing. So people are actually supportive, more supported than we give them credit for? That's one bit. But then there's the other part, which is that, at some point, I get to decide that is this a business or it's a hobby, once I realised it wasn't a hobby, then I needed to put structures in place, I needed to look at it from a business perspective. And there are things that I initially said, Oh, but this would be nice to have. It doesn't make business sense. It's not going to happen. Oh, we should start doing this. When we first began, I wanted everyone to have personalised consultations with a file in a folder. And with details on your hair, I didn't it wasn't it wasn't nice. But guess what, I wasn't around to do it. The girls couldn't do it. And the clients were not interested in it, let it go. And so it's just not being too tight your ideas. And also, I will say realising that my staff, the team also loved the business when they take ownership, or once they began to take ownership. And I could lean back, because I will tell you that maybe the past three or four years, a lot of the recommendations of the things that we have done have come from them. I'll be sitting there, and then they'll come Oh, and we need to start doing Oh, the clients are asking for us to do like a VIP space for them. Can we work on something like that's a really eye shadow come? Are you sure? I mean, this is me out pretest. And then I go on to us do it, we'll push it to them when carries them, they care about the business, they are actually interested, they want to see things workout. So they want to see the business grow. So they will come up with ideas. So once that happens, I can sort of allow the business to be its full self and realise it's not about me, it's their baby too. And more than anything, they they are very invested in the success of the business. So I can take a backseat or I can do other things. Akua Nyame-Mensah 22:23 Now, I love that. And it's amazing that you've been able to create an environment where they feel comfortable doing that, right. And even that they feel comfortable to let you know that something isn't going right as well. Because that's something that I hear from a lot of my clients like they only learn things when it becomes a fire. And those of you listening to this, you weren't aware of this necessarily. But there was a point actually, when one of our employees came in and actually was looking for her help for something. And I think it's amazing that they're willing to do that. And they're ready to do that as well. Speaker 1 22:48 Yeah. And I think it comes from them understanding that there is respect, one of the things that we don't tolerate to disrespect. If you don't respect a stylist as one stylist, that means you don't respect everyone here. That means you don't respect me, then why are you working here? So it's very clear, it also comes from them knowing that and I hate the term and power because it makes it seem like the person didn't have power and you gave them power, but it's more of acknowledging that they have valuable contribution. So when they suggest things, I mean, one of the stylists suggested the theme for last year, we do yearly things that we have staff meetings around and just sort of a central point of gravity. And she suggested the theme, which even came with the Bible, but it's because she was like, this is an issue we need to talk about. So she read the theme. And then she read the Bible because I'm like, okay, so because they see that I take things on, they are more willing to bring it up. And it doesn't mean that everything they bring I take on, if it's rubbish, I will laugh at you, I'll joke with them Be like, but this that you said, it doesn't work out, and then I'll tell you why. So it's not like, Oh, I'm hostile to the ideas. No, but I have to understand why they're suggesting it. And it can't just be Oh, I remember the last staff meeting is that, oh, we should stop providing lunch. And I asked him Okay, so we can always do the lunch normally lunch would maybe be in Ghana and so we're gonna have to cater maybe like 12 CDs that are that are that we did the math and I said, okay, so times, however many days you come in a month, so that means it will be 1000 and whatever, whatever. Okay, so we'll take that out of this salary. I said no, but we can split it. I mean, you pay for it fully, but also pay for it. And it's okay, we buy Yeah, I'm gonna ask. Akua Nyame-Mensah 24:30 But once again, right, making them part of the process and going through with them so that you can make that decision somewhat collaboratively. And I think that's amazing. All right. Well, I feel like we've been talking for quite a bit of time and I know we could talk forever. So I would just love for you to just tell us who you are outside of your many businesses and your work. What do you get excited about outside of work? Beach? Yes. And she's always has beautiful pictures on her Instagram, love her journeys and holidays. Speaker 1 24:58 I love travel and I'm someone who likes adventure. I love variety. And I think me love and variety is evident in the businesses that I am involved in is evident in the fact that I do lending because you're always in different businesses. So I love variety. And I sometimes have very strong opinions, but with age, I've learned to adapt and change. And I think they call it mature. So, yeah, so yeah, I'm actually quite a lot of fun. I used to be like the energy Powerball all the time. But again, I've mellowed, and I like to retreat quite a bit. But yeah, I'm always I Akua Nyame-Mensah 25:33 still have a lot of energy coming through on this episode. Speaker 1 25:39 So someone has asked me if I'm a morning person or evening person, I'm like, I'm an old person. I'm excited. Oh, my goodness, we have been given life. I'm excited by life. Akua Nyame-Mensah 25:51 This is why I think we get along so well, because I always get asked like, Do you drink coffee? Do you do these things? I was like, No, I don't need caffeine. I'm like, This is how no one ever believes I'm sick. Because I'm like, Man, I'm sick. And they're just like, you seem like you're still really up. Speaker 1 26:08 And I think that but I think that it's it's so it's so refreshing because I think we're able to sell start. And so we're able to drag ourselves out of the low lows. And that's that's a good that's a blessing. Because I know we're human guys. Things happen. I mean, things can go pretty, you know, low, but then guess what, by the money. We're like, Okay, Akua Nyame-Mensah 26:27 let's go. This has been so amazing. I have had so much fun. Thank you so much. Where can people find out more online? Speaker 1 26:39 Okay, so there's LinkedIn, Cuoco Gianni, and then there's Instagram, obviously, I think that the big one at just Cuoco, k URQ are so just ju se qualquer. So that's an Instagram that's on Twitter. And I think I'm going to be doing a YouTube channel soon. Please hit the emoji and I'm like, why not? And I must say, you know, you inspire me so much, because Oh, thank you stopping the main because you know, I've always been a big fan since essentially, since your early days. Just the energy, they're pushing yourself. And I've seen you basically change careers pivot, and this is something new, but you are owning it, and you are making it your own. And it's not. It's not Oh, this is what people say I should do this, like, Oh, this one I want to do and you're working it out. So congratulations. I listened to your podcast all the time. My dude. Akua Nyame-Mensah 27:34 Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today. For those you listening. We'll make sure that we do link everything in the show notes so that you can get in touch because she's absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please share it with your friends. We can continue this conversation on social media the links to my socials so that is LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. You can find them in the show notes. If you tagged me in a story and include the hashtag hashtag ask Akua I will share a special little gift with you. Thank you so much once again for your time and I cannot wait to share my next episode with you stay safe and sane.