Nairobi, Sept. 9 -- Agnes Gathaiya's life is full of colour. Her office is a mish-mash of light green, luminous green, blue hues, a touch of yellow, orange, light green, fading green... There are artboards which she doodles on, a Sankofa on the wall and is that a gourd too?

She walks for the interview wearing a red Ankara sleeve jacket, with shades of maroon and black-and lipstick. She never wears lipstick, but today she does.

Leadership, however, sometimes can be grey. Washed out and exhausting. Probably because it plays to our worst, most basic human fears: uncertainty, impermanence, loneliness.

She's walked that journey, learned her way around it and with the warmest smile, paints a canvas of a lifelong sojourner, searching for some...