Who says you can’t have it all? This couple did. In one year they married, had a baby and started a lucrative business. It may sound too good to be true but Inc.com tells their story.
Selena met Khary Cuffe while studying at Harvard Business School in 2002. Khary was a prospective graduate student visiting the campus. They started dated dating and in August of 2005, married in Egypt on top of Mount Sinai. (How Romantic!)
Six months into their marriage, Selena traveled to South Africa while Khary worked on his joint degree from Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government. Khary had no intentions of starting any entrepreneurial ventures until Selena called him from Johannesburg, detailing an important find: in a country where wine making was a centuries old tradition and 90 percent of the population was black, less than 2 percent of the wine industry was black owned.
Selena and Khary both immediately saw it as an opportunity for a business in wine production. They wanted to share the taste of African wine with the western world and with the support of their professors, started Heritage Link Brands in October 2005.
Seven days after they started the business, Selena learned she was pregnant. For a newlywed couple with an even newer business, a baby certainly made things complicated. But Selena and Khary overcame the challenges and took on marriage, parenthood and business ownership at the same time–successfully. In addition to their successful business, the couple now shares a column on Inc.com that details their story, what they learned along the way and offers their tips on wine and entrepreneurial ventures.
