Once Upon A Leader In Africa

Welcome to an exciting Once Upon A Leader In Africa Podcast episode, where we enjoy hearing about Kevin Kinusu's inspiring leadership journey. Kevin grew up in a humble neighborhood in Nairobi, where he discovered his passion for leadership at a young age. He learned the importance of accountability and responsibility as a class monitor in grade 4, and this became a defining principle throughout h...

Dr. Naike Moshi shares her higher education in the US and her desire to return to Tanzania and impact there. She started her professional career in a US Tax Consulting firm and has since worked on challenging and diverse assignments in the management consultancy area. She narrates her failures and lowest moments as a business leader and how she turned those situations around. Dr. Moshi stresses th...

Join us on the latest episode of our podcast, "Happiness-Giving Leadership," as we chat with Ashok Shah, a highly experienced leader in the insurance industry. Ashok shares with us his leadership journey, starting as a gang leader for his younger siblings and leading youth and anti-apartheid groups in high school and college. He explains how he was initially attracted to the insurance industry bec...

George Wachiuri is a leader who has dedicated his life to helping others. From his early days as a leader in his childhood to his university life, George shares his journey and the thrill of watching people grow and succeed. He candidly discusses his leadership drive, the mistakes he's made along the way, and how these experiences have shaped him into the leader he is today. In the face of the Cov...

Salome's leadership journey began early on in her life when she seized opportunities to excel in her primary school class by writing names of noise makers and leading the music club and rugby team in high school. Her approach to leadership is coaching, and she speaks about the positive impact it has had on her team members and the organization. Salome also shares about the importance of adaptabili...

From Maputo, Mozambique, Latifa Rijal Ibraimo shares the leadership journey that began as an 18 years old French teacher. As a teacher, she found herself having a leadership role towards her students, who were more mature than her. From teaching, she evolved into the natural resources, mining industry, and law. Over the years, she grew up the ranks of her career journey to become a leader with muc...

From the time he was in middle primary school to date, Nicanor finds himself thrust into leadership of various social groups because of how he articulates the group's issues. Professionally, he has uniquely made a career in leading professional associations for more than fifteen years. Nicanor candidly reflects on his leadership journey and shares his leadership style and experience in managing as...

As much as it’s unexpected in the advertising industry, Serah has learned to control her character, not reputation, in this ever challenging environment. She believes in people first and states that if leaders invest in building great and diverse teams, their KPIs will be met. These people she believes in and work closely with are Gen-Z! She happily shared how she has a better business leader by l...

As an introvert, Douglas Nyamori did not see himself as a leader throughout his younger years. However, he was good at sports and loved playing soccer, hockey, and rugby in high school. While in college, he played rugby for one of the top teams in Kenya’s national rugby league. His coach saw his potential and exposed him to leadership opportunities within the team. Unfortunately, this opportunity...

Raphael is not shy to confirm Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote: “Behind every great man is a great woman.” He does this by appreciating his wife's role in his growth and development as a leader, from his humble beginnings to becoming the Regional General Manager and MD at Atlas Copco East & Central Africa. His leadership journey is interwoven with his passion for business development, cross-cultural...

As a high school captain, fellow students beat Edgar because they were unhappy with one of his leadership duties. However, this did not deter him from excelling in his role until the period just before his final examinations. Such an occurrence was rare because the school captain’s tenure ended a year before they sat for the final exams. To motivate Edgar, tell him he cannot do something, and he w...

After the father formed his house cabinet, he asked Catherine to be his executive secretary and to write notes for the cabinet meetings. She was given this role because she was the ninth child of 10 children, hence too young to be a Cabinet minister. Catherine did not only take notes of the home cabinet but also did the same for the meetings the father chaired as a village elder and advisor. This...

Ishmael laughs off the mistakes he made as a youth leader of his church. His leadership was propelled by starting earlier when he was a primary and secondary school prefect. Afterward, Ishmael seized opportunities to serve and exercise his passion for helping the youth. His raw and youthful zeal made him rub off the church elders wrongly; however, their grace enabled him to succeed in growing the...

As a pioneer in a new Catholic-based high school, Janet responded to leadership opportunities in the school. These opportunities built her confidence, inspired her as a young leader, and formed a foundation and launching pad for future leadership roles in college and at work. Having studied social work at the University of Nairobi, Janet began her career as a Government Social Worker. However, she...

In Part 2 of her Podcast interview, Ruth continues to elaborate on the complexities of leading various teams of diverse individuals, cultures, and  generations. She shares a great lesson she learned from leading Generation Z members of her team and the legacy she hopes to leave behind. Ruth discloses her pursuit of advanced training and education for a Master of Science in Business Psychology from...

With 20 years in the Aviation industry, Ruth has grown to become an experienced leader in the said industry. Having started her life in humble beginnings, she narrates her journey from growing up in rural Kenya fetching water from the river to flying and dining in Paris. She is candid about her upbringing, oscillating between the rural areas and the city of Nairobi and progressing to the Mid-East,...

For over 20 years, Carol Wachira-Wanyama has been at the epicentre of the 4th Industrial Revolution disruption of the media industry. As the Marketing Director of Kenya’s most prominent media house, she is responsible for Digital Transformation, Content Strategy and Management for Citizen Television, Business Development, and Marketing function of their three TV stations, i.e., Citizen TV, Inooro...

GREATER GOOD FOCUS by Dr. Nelson Kuria Dr. Nelson Kuria appreciates his new season of reaching a broader constituency after retiring as the CEO of CIC Insurance Company in 2015. He narrates how his leadership journey began in high school as he got involved in extracurricular activities and later as he entered into employment. Due to his diligence and focus on doing things for the greater good, Nel...

At the age of 27 years, Rina Hicks was appointed by the President of Kenya and other individuals to lead and establish a national organization to revolutionize entrepreneurship among the youth. Being her first leadership role at a national level, she was excited to give her very best to serve her country. All was going well until hell broke loose when Rina rightly responded to her call of duty. Th...

As Procurement Officer in an aviation company, Gerald Kimiya Mayela saw a gap in their company's courier services after their messenger stole and absconded work. Seeing the business opportunity, he was inspired to look at what was in his hand to venture into the courier services industry. In his hands was a motorbike, and so with that, he humbly established Harakisha Couriers in 2012. Being the Fo...

What do you do to turn around the effects of being malicious prosecuted? How do you rebuild the destroyed plan of your life and career? Teresa Njoroge had to answer these questions after her successful banking career ended due to being falsely accused of a fraudulent transaction and imprisonment. While in prison and from the pain point of view, she birthed a vision to restore dignity and hope to w...

What do you do to turn around the effects of being malicious prosecuted? How do you rebuild the destroyed plan of your life and career? Teresa Njoroge had to answer these questions after her successful banking career ended due to being falsely accused of a fraudulent transaction and imprisonment. While in prison and from the pain point of view, she birthed a vision to restore dignity and hope to w...

It is rare to see a guard of honor by factory workers lined up celebrating, dancing, crying, and carrying their CEO shoulder high on his last day of work. That happened to Joseph Choge as he bid farewell to his Premier Food Industries Ltd colleagues before starting his new job as the Group MD of Unga Group PLC. Joseph believes that if you take care and care for your employees, they will take care...

If entrepreneurship had a name it would be Joram Mwinamo. Having started his entrepreneurial journey in the early 2000s, Joram shares with us his experiences, life lessons and how he stepped down as Managing Partner at Wylde International Ltd to start a whole new business, SNDBX Capital with his main purpose being to help entrepreneurs achieve the best of themselves in their businesses and lives....

For Emma Miloyo, leadership is all about people and she candidly shares with us her leadership journey. Having shattered the glass ceiling in her field, Emma rose to be the first female president of the Architectural Association of Kenya and she shares the ups and downs of leading in a male-dominated industry. She also shares what inspired the inception of Kiota School and what legacy she wants to...