Liza Akinyi
Pan-African Venture Builder & Executive Coach for Founders
A Career Built at the Intersection of Enterprise and Impact
Liza Akinyi-Owino is an executive coach, consultant, and venture builder based in Nairobi, Kenya, with more than 15 years of international experience spanning development, entrepreneurship, and social impact. She works with for-profit entrepreneurs, organisational leaders, and institutional partners to scale ventures and drive meaningful, measurable change.
Through her coaching practice, she has served more than 500 founders across 20+ countries and contributed to over $100 million mobilised for social impact initiatives. Her clients include independent founders in clean energy, agribusiness, health-tech, and education, as well as institutions such as the World Bank, UNICEF, UN Women, FCDO, Rabobank, and Strathmore University.
She delivers executive coaching, business model innovation, operations optimisation, strategy advisory, ESG consulting, storytelling for impact, and public speaking. For institutional partners, her work extends into gender-transformative programme design, technical assistance, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, research, and learning (MEARL), and grantee support.
Liza founded and scaled two ventures of her own before dedicating herself fully to coaching and advisory work. That direct experience — including navigating crises from supply-chain failures to personal emergencies — shapes every coaching engagement. She does not coach from theory; she coaches from practice.
At a Glance
- 20+ countries worldwide
- $100M+ mobilised for impact
- 500+ founders served
- 15+ years of experience
- Based in Nairobi, Kenya
- Strathmore University affiliate
The Person Behind the Practice
- She has lived and worked across Kenya, the UK, and West Africa, and has coached founders in more than 20 countries.
- She studied English Literature before entering the world of business — and credits that training with her obsessive attention to narrative and framing.
- She founded and scaled two ventures of her own before turning to coaching, including navigating a period that included flooding, employee theft, and a family medical emergency — all in the same year.
- Outside of work, she is a voracious reader of history and theology, and believes the best leadership insights come from outside the business section.
- Her unpopular belief: most founder coaching fails because it treats symptoms — strategy decks, pitch practice, financial models — without addressing the leadership gap underneath.
Heart + Strategy
A coaching methodology built for African founders — not imported from Silicon Valley.
Heart + Strategy
Every venture is personal before it is commercial. I coach founders to build from conviction — then wrap that conviction in rigorous strategy, financial discipline, and operational clarity. The heart is the engine; strategy is the transmission.
Rigor with Respect
Honest feedback delivered with deep respect for context. I do not soften the truth, but I never weaponise it. My coaching is evidence-based, data-informed, and grounded in the real constraints of building in emerging markets — not imported playbooks.
Ubuntu Leadership
Leadership that starts with self-awareness and extends through community. I teach founders to build organisations where people want to stay, where culture scales, and where the leader's growth unlocks the growth of everyone around them.
“My coaching work is grounded in ongoing practitioner research into African founder leadership development. I collect longitudinal data across all engagements and am building towards publication and doctoral research.”
— Liza Akinyi
Explore the Coaching Programs
Three structured pathways for independent founders, transitioning executives, and institutional partners.
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