Luck has played a great role in my life, and still does. Perhaps, I'm most grateful for the great examples, tutelage and advice from a motley collection of mentors, colleagues and leaders. My first encounter was helping facilitate a professional book club curated for business leaders, across East Africa. The professional service ran over two years and through more than twenty-eight sessions, most of which I was still an undergraduate student at the University of Nairobi.
The second inflection point happened when I was seconded to the U.K, as part of a leadership development program. The change, pardon the cliché, expanded my horizon – not only offering me an opportunity to work on complex engagements, but also broadened my network. I draw great lessons, examples and friendships from my time in the U.K. and remain in touch with former colleagues – all of whom, have had some great achievements since then.
The most recent fortunate linkage was the choice to go to business school. Attending Wharton was pivotal in enabling my career shift to Investment Banking and still has an outsized influence in many of my professional and social interactions in New York.
Reflecting on my experiences, I think a lot about how best to expand the lucky sequences and the opportunity set to others. One dimension, where the distortive effect of luck and arbitrary advantages preoccupies my mind is in allocation of capital – particularly across Africa, this remains a problem I dwell on a lot.
Hobbies and Interests
I love playing rugby, soccer, sailing, classical music, impressionism art. One nerdy fun fact about me is 26 is my favourite number.
What do you miss most about your home country (Kenya) and what don't you miss about your home country (Kenya)
Definitely the Mahamri (not Mandazi).
