Margot Kenee has one of the best commutes in Harare. Her home is just a 30-second walk away from her office. Every morning, she walks to Property Link’s office which occupies an upgraded cottage on the very same piece of land.
This year, Property Link is celebrating its 20th year. Margot can be excused if she has an extra spring in her step on her walk to work these next few months.
“When I started Property Link, everyone was like, ‘Are you completely insane? All businesses are collapsing,’” Margot told me in an exclusive interview. “‘People are leaving the country. And you started a business? Why would you do that?’ And it was because I was selling the houses for the people who were leaving the country. So it was actually the perfect time to start an estate agency.” This insight and shrewd business sense is central to why Property Link has succeeded where so many others have failed.
“People ask, is it a buyer's market? Or is it a seller's market? Well, in Zimbabwe, it's hard to tell. It can be either,” Margot continued. This keen awareness of market volatility has driven Margot’s company along steadily for two decades, weathering the frequent economic storms Zimbabwe experiences.
Helping Margot weather those storms is Tim Coughlan, her grizzled business partner. He’s been with her for the last 18 years, and he’s responsible for the “dollars and cents.”
“We never went into it to become the biggest estate agency in town,” Tim told me. “It wasn't our goal or our aim. And it's still not that today. We just want something that suits us. Give a good service. Make sure we're busy all the time.
“And that's what we've got. So we're not here to have banners up all over town telling everyone how wonderful we are, and we're the biggest in town. That's not our goal. Our goal is for us and for our staff and our team to be successful and to be happy. That's what it's all about.”
As the interview went on, I began to see that it’s more than just shrewdness that has kept Property Link going. It’s also heart.
“When you're selling a property for someone, a residential property, you get to step into their lives,” Margot said. “You’re in their home, and you get to be a part of that and that's really special.”
I asked Margot which sale in the last twenty years stood out to her the most. She told me she couldn’t identify a specific one. “It’s not just about selling a property,” she said. “It’s about looking after your clients.” Margot went on to tell me how they actually discouraged an elderly couple from selling their house because it would have been “a complete train smash” for them, even though Property Link would have received a great commission.
“To keep our integrity in place and to keep those morals upright, that's been the hard work,” Margot continued. “Because when you're surrounded by a lot of stuff that you don't necessarily believe in, then you have to hold on to that. But we just do.
“We just want to keep our clients as the most important people in our lives.”
Property Link’s mission statement is: “To be a successful, leading, local property brand with a professional reputation for excellence, service, expertise, friendliness and integrity, resulting in a broad exposure to entire markets, and led by a team of successful individuals, achieving job satisfaction and contentment.”
From just one conversation with Margot and Tim, it’s clear to see that it’s been 20 years of just that. Mission accomplished.
It’s been 20 years of integrity. 20 years of keen business sense. 20 years of putting the Zimbabwean clients first, even ahead of themselves.
When I asked Margot what she would want the public to know about property, she said, “They need to know that they need to be dealing with the right people that are honourable. They don't necessarily have to deal with Tim or myself or members of our team. But whoever they choose to deal with, they must make sure that they are dealing with people who are honourable.”
“We've done the necessary homework to make sure that the property we're selling, that the sellers are who they say they are,” Tim added. “We do all of that. And people need to know that if they deal with us, they will get the right deal.”
That’s the integrity, honesty and client-first focus that has kept PropertyLink going for the last 20 years.
It’s a proudly Zimbabwean business, owned and run by Zimbabweans who care about Zimbabweans. It doesn’t look like that’s going to change.
“We've never wanted to get bigger, so that's not our ambition,” Tim said. “But it's just really to maintain what we built. Maintain the principles that we've had to get to where we are.”
Sensible business and insight got Property Link where it is. Heart and client-concern kept it there. Every step it has taken over the last 20 years resonates with genuine care and commitment.
Those are the very qualities that echo in the few, short steps that Margot takes each morning in the 30-second walk to her office.
