We Watched The Polygamist: The Case of J&J Contractors

Netflix's hit telenovela The Polygamist has created varied debates on families and business success across Africa. At the centre of the drama sits J&J, the company built by the late Jonasi Gomora, whose success as a construction contractor only rivals his tangled personal life.

In one of the show's sharper moments, his widow Joyce claims the firm's rise owed less to Jonasi's vision than to her own family connections, the introductions that opened doors no amount of technical skill could unlock alone.

Across African construction markets, relationships with officials, financiers and established players often shape which firms grow and which stall, regardless of country. Kenya's experience offers one case study, but the pattern repeats from Lagos to Addis Ababa to Cairo in different forms.

Kenya's National Construction Authority (NCA) regulates local growth through an eight-tier classification system, from NCA 8 for small residential jobs up to NCA 1 for firms handling projects of unlimited value.

There are approximately 320 contractors registered in the NCA 1 category in Kenya, with foreign-owned firms making up roughly 25% of this total. Overall, NCA 1 remains an elite and highly exclusive tier, representing well under 1% of the total contractors in the country. (integrum.co.ke)

Reaching NCA 1 typically takes fifteen to twenty years of disciplined delivery. Capital, technical staffing and equipment ownership all factor in, but so do introductions to major clients and financiers, the kind of access no official checklist captures. Seeing the headquarter offices of J&J, it is clear that the firm is massive in scale. Few African contractors can boast such high-end premises as their headquarters, and even international contractors typically maintain a modest presence.

Chinese contractors illustrate how relationships and state backing can accelerate that climb elsewhere on the continent. A McKinsey study found Chinese firms command roughly half of Africa's international engineering, procurement and construction market, built on decades of tied financing and long-term presence.

Local contractors are rarely shut out entirely, but they frequently enter as subcontractors on Chinese-led or multinational projects rather than as lead bidders. That arrangement builds technical experience without necessarily building the balance sheets needed to compete directly for the largest tenders.

Succession remains a quieter risk across all these markets, one the fictional J&J dramatises through its own inheritance battle before and after Jonasi's death. Many African contracting firms are built around a single founder, and disputes following that founder's exit can unravel decades of accumulated capacity.

In the series, family and external family members quarrel over a portion of the legacy. The issue of apprenticeship with Menzi, Jonasi's son, highlights how passing down family-run organisations always stands a chance, but things can also collapse.

Lifestyle poses a related danger that the series captures well, even if unintentionally. Jonasi's extramarital affairs, public scandal, and eventual health collapse destabilise J&J's leadership just as the fictional firm reaches its peak, mirroring how real founders' personal conduct can undo years of business discipline.

Extravagant spending, legal disputes tied to personal affairs, or scandal that damages a founder's standing with financiers and government clients can stall a firm's momentum overnight. Trust, once central to winning contracts, is often the first casualty when a founder's private life becomes public.

Tax compliance gaps compound these risks further. Kenyan contractors owe a construction industry levy alongside standard taxes, and firms with unresolved compliance issues get blocked from upgrading categories regardless of their technical experience or project history.

J&J's fictional rise compresses decades of growth, and its founder's undoing into a handful of episodes. Across Africa, the real path to that scale runs slower, shaped by capital discipline, political relationships, and a founder's ability to keep his private conduct from consuming what he built.