Tribe 48.

Last year, the Kenyan government finally recognized Kenyans of Indian descent as the 44th tribe of the country. Significant Indian migration started in the early 19th century and has led to a large diaspora of people now living in Kenya who call the country their home.

Another large group that exists are the expats. The 48th tribe, if you will. Nairobi being the United Nations headquarters of Africa and one of the fastest growing cities, attracts people from all over the world. And in just ten days, I will be joining Tribe 48 myself.

For an entire year, I will be dedicating my time to a social enterprise called African Managers Initiative that delivers educational programs to accelerate youth employment (i.e. EdTech). I will continue my Product Management career but for a completely different industry and in a very different context via Engineers Without Borders.

I have never been to Kenya and in fact, I have never even been to any part of Africa. But despite that, I am excited to be spending a year challenging myself and making a small contribution to this thriving country.

During this transition, a lot of people have asked me why I am uprooting my comfortable life in Toronto and “giving up” a great career. Here’s a quick attempt at answering this question:

1. Working abroad has always been a dream. So when an opportunity presented itself to work in Sub-Saharan Africa, I couldn’t resist. It’s an opportunity to completely immerse myself in another culture, enjoy the similarities and differences, challenge myself by being COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone (I’ve never lived anywhere except Toronto!), and ultimately, come out with hopefully a much needed alternative perspective to life and a broader world view.
2. Why Africa? Africa is currently experiencing accelerated economic expansion and I believe this may be one of the last waves of tremendous growth that we’ll see in the world. China & India seem to have passed their peak growth and are now in a more stable trajectory. But a country like Kenya is where China & India were about 10 years ago, maybe more. Hope, aspirations, talent, innovation are all on the rise which create for a very interesting environment to be part of! This is my chance at seeing a nation transform radically and be part of the youth force that is taking the country by storm.
3. Why international development? Since I started working full time, I was only able to dedicate a few hours a week to social justice issues that are close to my heart. But I always wanted to do more and despite trying various ways to contribute more, it never felt enough. With this opportunity, I get to spend my entire day focusing on making a difference socially.
4. Finally, they say a good Product Manager can work on any product. That’s something I’ve strived for by working with drastically different industries, products, and users (from Telecom B2C to FinTech B2B and now EdTech). This opportunity allows me to continue to challenge myself as a PM, learn about a different industry, and new ways of doing things.

The culmination of all these factors, and many others, led me to decide to move to Nairobi for a year. This opportunity presenting itself to me at the right time in my life is perfectly summarized by this quote:

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” — Mabel Collins.

I’ll be writing a lot more posts in the coming year, so give me a follow! And if you’ve got any tips on moving to another country, please share them in the comments below.