Weekend with the CEO
Prital Patel: A spontaneous traveler who devotes his energy to staying fit
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Pritil Patel is the CEO of Creative FCB, an advertising agency in Nairobi. photo | Swimming pool
Prithal Patel’s deep veins in the Nairobi Westlands office radiate the right kind of energy. Although she does her best to restrain herself, Prital has an energy that pulls you in like a bad habit.
She gives off an outsider’s feel, and for all her claims of being boring, there’s an unmistakable whiff that those four walls in her office are courting for trying to harness out-of-control civil protest.
Small exaggeration aside, talking to Brital feels like seeing lightning trapped in a bottle. Here, with over 18 years of experience in brand strategy, brand architecture, financial management, marketing communications and business development, she runs the ship as CEO of Creative FCB (née Creative VMLY&R).
The food aficionado carries herself with military integrity and devotes a great deal of energy to keeping herself in shape—a lifelong obsession. You go to the gym six days a week, at 4 a.m., which is when you’re not hiking or doing something adrenaline-inducing.
What was the first thing you did this morning?
I’m up early. I’m up at 4 am. There are no alarms. My body is used to it. Therefore, sometimes I catch up on some business. I try to send my emails at that time and then I work at 4am. Sometimes, until three in the morning. I exercise six times a week.
Therefore, I do it three times with a trainer. I’m also into yoga. So I try to do this once a week. And on Sundays, if I have company, I’ll go to Karura Forest for a walk.
This is “my time”, and it helps me a lot. Not only in terms of fitness, but you have to give it 100%. And your mind can’t wander, it forces me to be present and not be distracted.
Does the gym help with creativity or does it take your mind off it?
I think training helps me. I don’t think it’s creativity in itself. But creativity somehow comes when you do nothing. And your mind wanders in different thoughts and ideas. But to answer your question, do I ever feel uncreative?
I think after 4 p.m. my team knows if you want to talk about the bigger stuff. I’m not at my best after 4pm, I’m a morning person very much.
Do you do a lot of nothing?
I’m trying. On Sunday afternoons, I’ll probably do that, whether it’s just catching up on Netflix or just relaxing at home or reading. Sometimes, I spend time with my nephews, it’s my energy boost.
And your Saturdays?
I love hiking. Before I used to walk on Saturdays, but unfortunately I lost my mom last year. Therefore, I haven’t really forced myself to go hiking yet. But this was a big thing for me.
But Saturdays are usually errands and personal cleaning, and then there will inevitably be some type of cooking.
I’ve talked about my time, I think three times now. What defines my time?
The fact that he is mine. I think the agency world is very dynamic. No two days are the same, I guess it’s an adrenaline rush.
Whether it’s a presentation, whether it’s coming in and you see a great idea and you’re kind of expanding on it. And I think my time is very much where the priority is for myself and what I feel like doing.
So whether I’m super active and I’m doing an extra yoga class, or, you know, catching up with friends or watching movies, it just works. My brain shuts down.
What is the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
I’ve been working in finance for two years. And I bought into this company (Creative FCB) from scratch when it was just a fluke. So, I would say that’s the weirdest thing because I didn’t have anything, I didn’t have any background in the industry.
How do you know you’re good at this?
I believe in a greater power, spirituality, or supernatural power. When I started this, I couldn’t believe I knew so much about it, but I will say a few years later, I felt like I had a penchant for detail and could tell what was good, creative, or not. Am I going to stop this and go to something else? But I feel like this is me.
What is the best part about being a CEO?
Given that level of commitment, ownership is there on a daily basis. Hence it is the little things that make a difference in life.
You know we used to do that once a year, we’d go out in the community as a whole company to help out or do something very random, which is not just catering, I think you need to teach people to fish for giving fish, I think those little bits where you give someone a chance, which isn’t just about saying CSR it’s not, I don’t believe in doing things for CSR.
But how do we start now to give chances? It could just be holding someone’s hand.
What is the most boring part of being you?
I would be very happy to just sit back and do nothing. But if you ask me to go outdoors, I’ll take a chance.
What did you always think was right, but now realize it isn’t?
I have always believed that people should appear as they are. So what you see is what you should get.
And unfortunately, as time goes by, you realize – and it’s the people you’ve helped – who made you see that maybe you only wanted to see what you wanted to see.
What do you think makes you?
I have a very responsible side, but also a very spontaneous side that wants to do new things.
I love the adventure of trying new things, which takes me out of my comfort zone and might even scare me a lot. I’m a foodie too, and love to travel. I wish I could do more than I am now.
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done so far?
I’ve done silly things like decide on a flight the night before to go and drop everything. I went to Rhino Charge. I think the outdoors attracts me.
Before Covid, I had a hiking instructor. I went hiking every Saturday. And I saw parts of Kenya I never knew existed, trails and waterfalls.
Do you like hiking?
Not my specialty. haha! Well, I was hiking on the other side of the Ngong Hills which was quite rocky, in contrast to the green and smooth scenery of the Ngong Hills. But you go up and it’s only green.
You only see the vistas of Mara and Kenya. And there are some places that you go to and find peace or calm within.
What calls you to nature or the outdoors?
It’s just a connection. It is the association with openness, spaciousness and simplicity. And again, I’ve discovered a lot about myself through hiking, because you know, you know, you think you’re okay all the time.
But now the anxiety is picking up a bit. Yes. Um, because you don’t know if you’ll succeed or not. Yes. Then I once felt like there’s a lot of boardroom lessons you can get from the noise of being outside.
It’s just for you to understand yourself, you know, your strengths, and your weaknesses. You have to be present because if you’re kind of wondering where else to stumble, you’re going to fall in haha!
What are the most problems you have experienced?
I wasn’t in trouble haha! Do you think I’m a boring person?
No, you are not a boring person. You seem to have had fun.
I enjoyed. I spent 5 am on the weekend. But now you value your Sundays more in life as you get older.
When you were younger, it was always about Saturday nights. I’ll be home at 3am and then I’ll go to a tennis lesson at 9am haha! I used to go to class at night. Yes.
What food comes to mind when you think of the weekend?
I will try to cook on the weekend. And maybe try to cook something new if I can. I bake with my nephew. Sometimes I head to an Italian restaurant or a grill.
What’s your soundtrack for the weekend?
Sometimes, a little bit of Bollywood or 70’s and 80’s music. It varies. I used to play the piano. My father used to force us (me and my siblings) to learn while we were in school.
Were you daddy’s girl?
I am daddy’s girl. Guilty haha! In later life, I think that changed. Perhaps fathers and daughters have a different connection. Or you can get away with your dad a little more than your mom.
How are you like your father?
I think the spontaneous side is a reflection of him. People think I got my business acumen from my dad, but in reality, it was my mom. She was a housewife but thought she wasn’t given much opportunity.
She insisted that her daughters needed to work and that your focus should be your career versus the kitchen. Tell my team here that at home, we weren’t raised to say that if you’re sick, you take the day off.
You need to keep working. And I remember one day I got sick and I told her. She’d say, “Well, you know, let it go.” Then at 10 she came and said, now that’s enough for us, go to work.
You didn’t give me any space to sit at home and do nothing. So my dad hated that I had to say this, but I think he was even. Maybe she had a lot more than him haha!
What is the most painful thing you’ve been told?
I’m not good enough.
Are you good enough?
It depends. Let me rephrase. The words may not have been that you’re not good enough, but you can’t do it. And I think as painful as it is, I think it got me to where I had to do it.
became a challenge. The flip side is that at that moment in time, you feel hurt or disappointed, and when you look back you see that was your trigger.
At the time she didn’t realize it, it was like revenge and like, oh, I’m going to show this guy that I can do it. And I did it.
What is an unusual habit or silly thing that you love?
Coded crosswords or games involving words. When I get up at 4 a.m., that’s the first thing I do, especially this one in the NY Times called Connections. It is a pattern game.
What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever spent money on?
When we were growing up, my dad didn’t have much money. So when you start working, you realize the value of money because you are doing it yourself. All that being said, I am not a huge spender!
What’s on your bucket list?
Grand Patagonia Trail in Chile. This is not a bucket list, but I just want to take three months off work and go somewhere like Italy and just explore this country and do nothing for three months.
Like going to different regions, maybe going to a Tuscan cooking school. But taking three months off work is quite a luxury.
Do you have a secret talent that no one knows about?
I want to start playing the piano again. or tennis. I’m exploring if to start a bit of golf, but I’m not a very patient person haha!
You seem to be good at a lot of things. What are you bad at?
disassembly. I’m messy. I also don’t like any kind of motorsport, not even go-karting.
What is your guilty pleasure?
I have a real sweet tooth. I bake cakes. You look at it and you can tell it’s homemade, not fancy. Yes. But it’s too good to say it myself haha!
What is something you wish you could be better at?
risk. I also think I put everyone before myself. Yes. Sometimes I wish I could just focus on what I want or what makes me happy.
What never fails to make you laugh?
Just silly stuff. Yes. It’s the little and funny things.
Who do you know that I should know?
I know many people. I think you should know my family. Because I think you are very lucky in life when your family is the right people for you.
If you could talk to any animal, what would it be?
This is an unusual question haha. I am not a very likable person. But I have dogs at home.
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