Nairobi, Aug. 20 -- Gordon Otieno Odundo says the runway is getting shorter. He has more sunsets than he has sunrises. The game is in injury time, so he is cashing some cheques.

"Retirement isn't about stopping; it's about moving on to something different," he says. "Besides, people die a few years after retiring not because they're broke, but because they have nothing to do."

At 36, with no university degree, he applied for a chief operating officer job. He got it. His pay was doubled. His hours were cut short."I had a level of 'madness' or insanity when I was young. I was fearless," he says.

Odundo later got a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management and an MBA, both from the United States International University; a Postgraduate Ce...