Charming socialite
By Kenneth Kwama
Pics by Rebecca Nduku
Exquisite. That is how one British daily described the occasion.
The previous day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, had hosted a luncheon in honour of Asian women in London, at the Ritz hotel. The PM had just about wrapped up when he noticed a familiar face. He waved at Shelina Popat, and after his address, went straight to the table where she was seated. He left her in the company of his wife Cherie.
"I like the Blairs, they are very friendly people," says Shelina. I have many friends in high places because of the work that I do, but Cherie is my favourite. She is a good talker who can talk and talk about her family. You’d really find it interesting when she tells you how she’s under pressure to take care of ‘my energetic Tony’, the family and her career as a barrister," she says.
Shelina is an events organiser. She’s the Managing Director of Contact Network Limited and comes from one of the wealthiest families in Kenya. Among the properties associated with her family are Simba Colt Motors, Imperial Bank and a host of other big holdings. Shelina herself owns the Miss India-Kenya franchise and has a list of enviable clients for which she organises events. They include LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Imperial Bank and document management company, Hewlett Packard. You have also probably heard of her family. They shot to the limelight through one of the biggest kidnap cases the country has ever witnessed when her uncle, Abdulkarim Popat, was abducted in 2000.
Marriage and all things French
Although the kidnap of her uncle was sad, the worst thing that has happened to Shelina took place in 1995.
"My husband, Erwan Lanoe, was abducted by Somali militiamen. My daughter, Talisa, was only six months old. I felt lonely and couldn’t sleep for seven days. It took seven international negotiators, including the Kenyan Government and the then president of France, Francois Mitterrand, to secure his freedom. The international press camped outside my house. It was traumatic but I talked to Mitterrand and he assured me he would do everything in his power to get him released," she reminisces. Her French husband, Erwan Lanoe, was a pilot and had flown a special UN delegation on a fact-finding mission to Somali when he was abducted. She’d met Lanoe in Paris in the early 1980s where she studied and worked briefly.
Some of her jobs include once modelling for the internationally renowned fashion house, Christian Dior, while still a student. She also represented the country at a Tourism pageant in Paris, 1980. Shelina went to France after her basic education in Kenya at the Aga Khan primary and secondary schools in Nairobi. She then proceeded to the prestigious Sorbonne University in France to study languages. She also attained a degree in tourism management and briefly worked as a tourist liaison officer at the Kenyan embassy in Paris, with current Bahari MP Joe Khamisi as her immediate boss. The year was 1980 and Kenya’s ambassador to France was Bethwel Kiplagat. Perhaps, the greatest treasure she brought home from France was her husband, Erwan, who she recently divorced.
So how does she feel about him?
"Oh! We are wonderful friends, but terrible lovers. I absolutely have nothing against him. I just want to continue with my life.
But will she marry again?
"Absolutely, yes! I’m really looking forward to that but I don’t want to make another mistake. It is stupid to make the same mistake twice. I will marry again, but it will have to be someone I respect, love is not a priority.
"I am independent and I come on my own terms. The best thing about marrying when you are mature is that you don’t fall head over heels in love like a girl. My eyes are wide open and I can spot a gem among wolves. I think I will consider the battle half won if I meet someone who is not scared of my status. I also consider my daughter an asset, not liability to such a relationship and he must accept that first," she says.
Friends in high places
Shelina has organised important and spectacular state events for both the current and previous Kenyan presidents. She also does state events for other countries like Dubai. The most memorable event she ever organised there is the Dubai Golf Classic, 2002, which featured world-class golf players like Tiger Woods and Chandra Singh.
Her photo with Cherie Blair is just one amongst many that have captured her posterity with world-renowned politicians, sportspeople and entertainers. Singer Celine Dion, Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, former world golf number one Tiger Woods, a number of sitting and former cabinet ministers, President Kibaki and former President Moi are some of her friends. So what is it that draws these big names to Shelina?
"I don’t know," she says modestly.
"Maybe it is the way I talk to them. I work for some, and each person is special in his or her own way, so I try to make the relationship as rewarding and as honest as I can."
Anyone who knows Shelina will tell you that she is a sweet talker.
She is also clever, delightfully self-aware and under no illusions about how she wants her career to go. "I ventured into business about 10 years ago and became a boss when it wasn’t easy for a woman to be at the top. I have never looked back since and I believe the best is yet to come," she says.
Within weeks of her arrival in Nairobi in 1982, she landed a job at Pollman’s tour operators in their marketing department and went on to become a marketing manager after only a year.
She quit in 1984. She was only 26, but that is when she started to run four different companies namely, Thorn Tree Safaris, Travel Promoters, Shannel Boutique and a clothe-design outlet called Shannel Designers. She sold off the businesses in 1994, and ventured into the Casino business. Her outfit was called Four Aces, and employed about 250.
"It was hectic for me. I had just married and I had a newborn child. I realized how hard it was to balance my career with family. The business was erratic and very roller coaster like — making millions of shillings in a day and losing millions in another. The only comfort I drew from the business was the satisfaction of giving jobs to so many people."
It did not take her curious mind a lot of time to discover she could also organize events.
She started her current company – Contact Network Ltd in 1995. The company specializes in organizing weddings, luncheons, parties and other similar events. She has nine employees.
Unlike other celebrities, whose status hangs by a thread and is perhaps dependent upon the caprice and patronage of others, Shelina won’t bow to anyone. Yes, her family name might have given her some mileage, but they did not make her.
"My dad always wanted us to get the best in life. The Asian community is a tight place to be born but he believed in giving his children the best education and allowing us the freedom to follow our own paths," says Shelina.
" I believe that I can always do better."
At home
We visited her palatial home in Muthaiga early this week. Her house is a huge and very spacious bungalow. A dining table separates the living room into two. The larger room is lighter and edgier and has a brown, well-polished floor while the adjacent one is softer and more textured with a dark blue carpet and a large dark blue oval daybed. There is a glass coffee table in the center of the room. The other parts of the house are sectioned off. She’s designed nearly everything in the sitting room — with the exception of one tall rack for music CDs. She’s also done the tasteful interior dÈcor — an eye-pleasing mix of sharp colours and beautiful furniture. The most captivating feature about her living room, however, is the sprinkling of ceramics and antiques.
She says she’s "a permanent fixture here on most evenings." You’ll find her perched on the black recliner chair, invariably tapping away at the laptop, perhaps creating new dÈcor or helping her 10-year old daughter Talisa, a pupil at Kenton College, with her homework.
Despite her obvious wealth, there is also something very down-to-earth about her. Despite the fact that she ate a seven-course dinner at a French Restaurant the previous night, she is craving ugali (maize meal) and sukumawiki. "It is my favourite. I can’t imagine going one week without ugali and sukuma," she quips.
You can’t be sure how the pieces of her personality fit together. It’s hard to understand how her casual approach to life coexists with the patent idealism shown by her decision to abandon formal employment and start on personal business but there is one thing you certainly wouldn’t miss about her. She is a charmer.
Shelina with Cherie Blair and a guest at the luncheon in London.
With her daughter Talisa.
Shelina and her mother
Shelina plays with her dogs.