Zachary has seen God open doors in his life. He comes from a humble background and attributes his success to God’s grace. He wants to be a global leader who “impacts people’s lives positively and leaves a mark in their leadership” wherever God places him. 

He did not have it easy growing up. He lost his father 3 years after he was born so his mom raised five children as a single mom. He does not recall much of his dad because he was young and after he passed his mom would wonder how she would take her kids through school. The good thing is that they had their own home that the dad left them so they did not have to rent a place. His mom supported the family by selling cereals in the market. School was hectic because you could be sent home for lack of school fees. He and his siblings were able to finish school. After finishing, he worked in order to pay his school balance and he was able to clear it.

It was a miracle for him to start university but he was able to get a sponsor. However, the sponsor said that he can’t support him anymore and he didn’t have money. He still managed to finish college and after 3 months he landed on Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP) Bank. He did a diploma in banking and finance in 2013 and pursued a degree in accounting after. Zachary is grateful that he and his siblings grew up knowing God and his mom would encourage them in the Word. He acknowledges that that is what kept them and he sees the fruits of God’s grace in his life.

Today, he is the branch manager at SMEP in Naivasha and has been there for 9 years from being a teller to now the manager. When he was young, he did not think that he would be working in this sector as he wanted to get into medicine. After his high school, he got enrolled to do pharmacy and he changed and went into finance. SMEP deals with putting money into low- income people’s businesses according to their savings and other factors. He has heard testimonies of what people have been able to do with SMEP. They have been able to take their kids to school and repay their loans. This encourages him to keep uplifting the lives of the society because people are using the money they are given to better their lives. A customer told him how SMEP transformed her life.  She was living in a horrible place and through funding she was able to move to her own home and can now support her other family members. He loves the work that he is doing and says that “without zeal and passion for work you cannot go far”. 

SMEP’s network has over 300 staff and he is among the two that have been selected to come to ALI. ALI will help him make an impact in society and will allow him to also spread leadership skills to his fellow workers. He likes that ALI focuses on shifting your mindset to an abundant one and that it is a Christ centered program. There are good leaders but it is rare to find Christ centered ones and he thinks that that aspect is missing in Africa today. Having leaders like this will take the continent very far. He also recognizes the importance of imitating Jesus as leaders and wants that to be seen in his life.