From Heartbreak to Hustle: Why Men Rise After Breakups #SameForest #DifferentMonkeys
Matumbo is Still Meat: Surviving Breakups in Life, Love, Business & Sports
Heartbreak isn’t theory, it’s lived.
It’s the divorce papers on the table.
The rejection letters piling up.
The death that rips your heart out.
The business partner who walks away.
And yet, again and again, it’s in those broken places that the hustle begins.
Pain becomes the gym. Failure clears the field. And the comebacks? They’re always louder than the falls.
From the Pitch to the Pits (and Back Again)
Luis Enrique lost his 9-year-old daughter to cancer. A year later he was back on the touchline, dragging Spain to the Euro 2020 semifinals and lifting silverware with PSG. Tragedy sharpened his resolve.
Tiger Woods — public humiliation, divorce that cost him $100 million, surgeries that left him limping. Then came the 2019 Masters win. Eleven years of exile, one green jacket that shut everyone up. Net worth today?
Over a billion dollars. (Hope you have a new hack bro 😉)
Siya Kolisi (Springbok captain) — rumors of divorce, personal demons. Still lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy twice, back-to-back.
Proof that bruises don’t disqualify leaders.Dennis Ombachi, the “Roaming Chef.” Scored the try that booked Kenya Sevens to the 2016 Olympics, then crashed into injury and depression. He once tried to end it all. Today, he’s a TikTok star with millions of views.
👉 Watch Ombachi’s famous try when Kenya trailed 17-14.
The moment that reminds us: DONE!! heartbreak fuels hustle.
Boardroom Breakups & Billion-Dollar Rebounds
Naivas Supermarkets — nearly torn apart by family feuds. Investors stepped in. Today? Over 90 outlets, Kenya’s biggest retailer.
The fight at the dinner table created a giant in the aisles.Quickmart merged with Tumaini in 2019, founder stepped aside. Today one of Kenya’s fastest-growing supermarkets.
Proof that losing control isn’t always losing.
Barclays Africa — dumped by the UK mothership. Rebranded as ABSA. Separation anxiety? Sure.
But The Bank is back with its own African swagger.
Britam — burned by the Mauritian Rawat scandal in 2015. New shareholders, new blood, new profits.
From scandal to sustainability.
Love Hurts, Hustle Heals
Tiger again — his divorce was tabloid porn, but it forced him to rebuild. He came back wealthier, tougher, hungrier.
Otile Brown — breakup with Vera Sidika was messy, public, loud. He poured it into music. Those breakup tracks? Top of East African charts. (How do I know this…..must be the damned AI)
Oprah Winfrey — told she was “unfit for TV.” Fired. Came back to build a media empire and became the first black female billionaire.
J.K. Rowling — divorced, broke, a single mother on welfare. Rejected by 12 publishers before Harry Potter. Today? A billion-dollar brand.
Sometimes abandonment clears the path for destiny.
Scars, Stars & African Resilience
Aliko Dangote — textile failures nearly bankrupted him. Pivoted to cement, sugar, now oil. Net worth: $20B+. Loss sharpened his aim.
Wangari Maathai — divorced, mocked, jailed, dragged through the mud. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Heartbreak gave her roots of resilience.
Lupita Nyong’o — rejection and self-doubt. 12 Years a Slave gave her an Oscar. Today she’s Hollywood royalty.
Patrice Motsepe — early mining risks almost sank him. Today: billionaire, philanthropist, CAF president (yes that’s him you saw in Kasarani yesterday).
Sometimes the scar is the brand.
Curtains Down, Curtains Up: Phoenix Players & the Creative Breakup
If you grew up in Nairobi in the 90s, you know Phoenix Players Theatre. It birthed a generation:
Ian Mbugua, the sharp-tongued judge of Tusker Project Fame.
Teddy Muthusi, whose voice still lingers on the airwaves.
The late Edward (CF) Kwach, radio royalty.
Maggie Ireri, Mumbi Kaigwa, Nice Githinji — women who owned the stage, and today dominate media and social spaces as influencers and producers.
Phoenix Players collapsed — bad management, poor funding, dwindling audiences. The stage went dark. But the alumni? They’re everywhere. Screens, radios, TikTok, feeds.
So here’s the sting: was Phoenix Players’ death a necessary breakup? Sometimes subtraction creates space.
Will the Phoenix rise again? Phoenix Online? Who can rebuild it? My bet? Someone who’s been through a breakup.
Someone who knows heartbreak is fuel.
The Sales Story: How to Survive a Breakup with Your Biggest Clients
This is an insurance story — but don’t log off yet. Because whether you’re in banking, retail, IT, advertising or just running a duka in Gikomba, the lesson is the same: when your biggest client walks out, how do you survive the breakup?
We strutted like village jogoos from boardroom to boardroom, closing accounts faster than hawkers running from Kanjo askaris. Corporate schemes lined up like trophies.
Untouchable… until we weren’t.
In year three, the music stopped. HR evangelists replaced. New CFOs, new CEOs. Vultures circling back with change-of-agent letters. Within six months we lost five clients and 40% of revenue.
Strategy? “Sell more.” It failed.
War room. Panic. Then one crazy idea:
“Instead of fighting for the fat corporate scheme, go for the scraps: staff cars, parents’ medical, chama accounts. Too small for the sharks.”
Absurd? Maybe. But it worked. Those scraps kept us alive. And when the big corporates came back with complaints (like they always do), who did they call? The same “agony aunts” still serving their mums.
We built a retail base so resilient it made corporate pitches sharper: “If the CFO can trust us with his mum’s cover, why wouldn’t he trust us with the company?”
Lesson: Tie yourself so deep you can survive the breakup. Even matumbo keeps you alive.
👉 The folks from the murima have a saying “Ona mahu no nyama” — even tripe is still meat.
Every African community has this saying……...defeatist or pragmatic?
And for the record:
Anniversary? Align it with her birthday — one gift, one dinner, drama sips her wine.
Alimony payments? Align it with EACH VAT filing. All pain due on the 20th its WANTAM!
The Comeback Challenge: Your Turn
Lived through a breakup — love, work, business — and bounced back stronger?
Which clubs, pubs, or hangouts should stage a comeback? (The Old KaChoi for me 😉)
Should Phoenix Players rise again? And if so, who lights the stage?
💬 Drop it in the comments — or use our anonymous section. Say it without fear of judgment. Sometimes the realest stories are whispered.
Closing Thought: Addition by Subtraction (Thank you Jacky)
Here’s the theory: addition by subtraction. By losing something, you create space for something new.
Tiger lost his marriage. Ombachi lost rugby. Wangari lost her freedom. Rowling lost dignity with every rejection letter. Phoenix Players lost the stage.
And yet — out of subtraction came the additions.
Masters. Nobels. Billion-dollar brands. New voices. New stages.
👉 Sometimes the breakup is the breakthrough. The fall is the fertilizer. The heartbreak is the hustle.
If you liked the story subscribe, better still if you’re in sales book a “free” appointment. Let’s have some chai……
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Still we rise... Even through turmoil... Still we rise.