Quiver Lounge & Grill owner Peter Mbugua believes he has built something with a bigger name than his nightlife business. However, he is not convinced that this is what should outlive him.
This explains why he was willing to risk millions of shillings to try his luck in the insurance business that has run into a shareholding row.
He is not giving up yet but it worries him that this row with his partners, including the SportPesa CEO and Kasarani MP Ronald Karauri, could risk his ambitions to diversify into insurance.
Mr Mbugua, whose wife quit banking to help him manage Quiver Lounge, says even though he loves the nightlife business, it has nothing to do with his personality—he does not even partake in alcohol.
“I don’t miss going to church. I am never branded as a nightlife person. There is Peter and there is Quiver. I do not even take alcohol,” he told the Business Daily in an interview.
“Many people know Quiver but just a few know the owner. What I believe in is that there is individual life and then there is business life. The business has its own identity and Peter has his own. I am not like those many bar owners who get carried away and start mixing entertainment with life.”
Even though Quiver has done “so well, so fast,” Mr Mbugua says he is always wary of the longevity of the nightlife business. He reports to work at 9.30pm, as soon as his children retire to bed. He returns home around 5am— just in time to take his children to school.
He believes he cannot sustain this odd schedule past 50. This is what inspired him to think about diversifying into insurance.
“Club business, like it or not, does not last for too long. And if it can’t go for long, you can’t call it family business. You cannot call a club a family business because I don’t believe it can live beyond me. And that is why I warmed up to an idea I believed would build something that can outlive me,” said Mr Mbugua.
This is what inspired Mr Mbugua to team up with other partners to set up Definite Insurance in which he took up a 22 percent stake through Swingers Skypark Lounge Ltd. He invested Sh175 million to fund start-up costs and part of capital.
However, the push by his partners to compensate him Sh195 million and eject him from Definite is threatening his diversification goal.
“I was open to anything that could give me a good transition from club business and the idea of insurance excited me. By the time I am hitting 50, I don’t think I will be able to manage nightlife. It is a hands-on work. What you serve in the evening when customers come has to be prepared during the day.”
Mr Mbugua adds that it is not easy to fully delegate the club business, given that many of the workers in the alcohol and entertainment industry do not consider it as employment. He says that many are there for fun and will easily hop into another club, even for lower pay.
For the longest, he operated several eateries in Thika town, mainly specialising in meat. But the idea of customers feasting on nyama choma from his joint and then crossing to other outlets to sip alcohol inspired him to try his hands on bar business.
He explains that when the rented premise where he had set up his first bar was sold, he decided to look beyond Thika since the new owner wanted to put up a school.
That was in 2019. He surveyed Kitengela and then Thika road where he opted to start first. Long before he could finish setting up Quiver at Thika road, Covid-19 struck, ushering in months of lockdowns and curfews. But this could prove to be a blessing in disguise as revellers flocked into the new bar and grill as soon as the restrictions were lifted.
“Since people had been locked in their homes for months, they were eager to sample new joints and I think they just connected with the name Quiver,” said Mr Mbugua whose club became a favourite of many politicians seeking audience with voters.
As he hopes for an amicable solution out of the wrangles with his partners in the insurance business, he says the experience has taught him some lessons about business.
His first caution: Do not trust so much and do not just be carried away with exciting ideas. Secondly, he says, having everything written down and backed by a lawyer is key.
“Get to know the character of the person you want to partner with. Look at their history, especially if they have been around long enough. How do they treat their own family and how do people perceive them?” he said.
