Some turning points arrive quietly, disguised as discomfort. For Kamau Nyabwengi, it was a first semester spent wrestling with engineering equations that sparked the realisation that his future belonged elsewhere. He left Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering for a degree in Entrepreneurship, a choice that surprised many but reshaped everything that followed.
By then he had 13 business ideas written down and was running small ventures on and off campus. Those early experiments taught him the essentials of enterprise and set him on a path defined by curiosity, courage and conviction.
Kamau leads YEN Africa, an organisation that has created one of the country’s most unexpected bridges into opportunity.
Through golf, he has built a community of close to 4,000 young Kenyans who are accessing networks, confidence and professional pathways that were previously out of reach.
"Discomfort showed me my path—curiosity and courage turned it into opportunity."
His work is rooted in a problem he is determined to solve: the lack of access to knowledge, mentorship and communities that support growth. Much of his influence comes from understanding a cultural shift that is changing Kenya.
-Vincent Owino