Nairobi, Nov. 1 -- It is perhaps not your average executive's way to unwind. Yet mahindi choma is one way to George Olaka's heart. It is elemental to his existence, like growing up in the village. Or going to boarding school at 10, which he did. "I became independent at a young age," he says. But the cost of independence comes at a steep price. "The relationship with my parents became transactional," he says, "focusing mainly on school requirements and essentials."

That has moulded the man he is today. Not easily swayed, a pine tree that bends in defiance to the wind, ducking whatever life throws at him. The Country Head and CEO of ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP) had to pull himself up by his bootstraps. "Some people ha...