Carol Koech: I love my books with a herbal tea twist but loathe air fryers

Weekend with the CEO

Carol Koech: I love my books with a herbal tea twist but loathe air fryers

Saturday July 15 2023

Carol Koech is the Country President of Schneider Electric East Africa. PHOTO | POOL

There is an air fryer epidemic in Kenya. If you have not drunk the Kool-Aid yet, save your throats and coins.

At least that is what we deduced while shooting the breeze with Carol Koech, Country President at Schneider Electric East Africa, a French multinational company that specialises in digital automation and energy management.

She bought one. Used it once. And that was that. She warns us, as an auntie and as a (recovering) air fryer owner: “Don’t buy an air fryer.” What I bought though is that she has a singing voice, so she sings, sotto voce.

Like a showboating matador, she goads me with tales of her herbal concoctions. Now and then she sips from a bottle, whose contents, she is quick to confess, are not whisky. It is, instead, hibiscus tea.

She sips and refills this bottle up to three times a day. Widely read and highly educated, Ms Koech studied electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Nairobi and is also a qualified accountant besides shadowing as a STEM champion who mentors young women at work and in high schools.

Surprisingly revealing like a Venus flytrap, she is a striver who has spent a lifetime acutely aware of that old frenemy: age.

We meet at Power Technics Complex on Nairobi’s Mombasa Road, in a wintry July, as she alternates between the hustle and bustle and tussle of Nairobians trying to make it in the city.

She will not admit it, but, off the record, she has made it. Or is it in the process of making it? And with skin as clean as rain she knows something we don’t—and it’s not just about air fryers.

What’s a weekend hack you know that can make my weekends better?

My Saturday morning walks. I never miss them. Instead of coffee dates, I have walk dates. If you are looking to spend time with me, let’s walk.

It gives me the power to command my weekend. I do between 10 to 20 kilometres!

What’s it like being you?

I am only me because there is no other person like me. I am unique. I am myself.

When did you know you were good at what you do?

I’ve always given my best. Right from when I was young. Growing up, I was one of those people who were counted on. There was no point that I ‘knew.’ I just gave the best of myself and I think it came out in my work.

Do you have a favourite failure?

Some of the failures have become blessings. I have had moments where I was on the verge of losing my job in organisations. It has happened twice.

I was able to get another (job) within the notice period of the redundancy. It changed my life knowing that things can happen to you but you can choose to make them positive and turn them around.

It taught me to appreciate that it is not always rosy. I learned never to be comfortable. I am always on my toes, knowing that things can go wrong at any time. That’s my mentality now.

How does one get to where you are?

Sometimes I look back and there is no formula. Many times, it is preparation meeting luck. I have also taken a lot of risks from a career perspective. I have made some moves that could have been suicidal.

For instance?

I studied engineering and took a job in an audit firm with no clue about what they do. That set me on my journey in finance, where I had to quickly get an accounting qualification.

I went back to school to do my Master’s degree and started looking for a job in the commercial department, moving from finance to sales.

I sold nothing in the first year. But they kept me because I have a very unique skillset and as I moved up the rungs, it became even more relevant because I can see things from a much broader lens with a commercial and finance background.

What’s an interesting thing about you?

I am a lifelong learner. I absorb a lot of information. I sort of find myself in topics that are relevant and also general to me.

I have spent a lot of time reading and trying to understand the psychology of the human being, trying to understand human behaviour, motivations et cetera.

Do you read a lot?

I read a lot.

Where did you pick up the habit?

I grew up in the village. My father loved buying newspapers, but I also read a lot of storybooks, including Is It Possible by H.R. Ole Kulet.

I remember reading about a Maasai boy who was herding cows but then got a chance to go to school. In high school, we were not allowed to read storybooks but I’d always hide one in the textbooks.

The likes of Sidney Sheldon and James Archers. My children have picked it up, and I can’t cope with their demand for books.

What was the last book you read and what did you take away from it?

I just finished Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential [by Matt Higgins]. It challenges you to throw away Plan B because you will not focus on Plan A.

The one fundamental thing is, how can you focus on building something without looking at the other side?

You mentioned your father. Are you a daddy’s girl?

I lost my father eight years ago. But I was a daddy’s girl. He was my hero.

What do you think your father learned from you?

Maybe not learned but what did he do to me. He was my champion. He would ask for all the report forms—I was quite the smart girl—and he’d just smile and laugh and organise a celebration with my siblings too, have a goat or a chicken or two killed.

It motivated us to work harder. What I have not learned from him probably is how to celebrate. Oh, and he also loved his drink.

One time a cousin of mine was getting circumcised and my father saw that they were cooking beans and he went livid! He found his way to my uncle’s boma and removed a goat that served as a sacrifice for the celebration. He never wasted an opportunity to celebrate haha!

And now you are a parent as well?

Yes, I have four children. Every time people are like how do you manage? And I am like they are already here haha!

What do you think you are learning from your children?

They are very independent-minded. My daughter just graduated last year and her perspective on life is very different.

I am corporate and stuck up, but she thinks there has to be more to life than just an eight-to-five job. She graduated from an Ivy League school but she moved to the farm to build a ‘culture of healing the soil’.

My other daughter just cleared high school, going to university and she made it clear that she does “not dream of labour.”

Haha! I have 11- and nine-year-old boys, who are teaching me patience. They want to understand your reasons, your why, and you can’t say ‘Because I said so.’

All my children are avid readers. I had to sign up for a library service delivering four books a week because I couldn’t cope with buying books.

Do you have a special treat that you do as a family?

I did with my father but I am still figuring it out with my family routines. We pray before we go to bed. We go to church together, and one or two dinners.

For my father, we would have to have nyama choma from a goat that has been killed ‘live.’ He had to see the goat die haha! My mom has kept the tradition.

When you think of the weekend what food comes to mind?

I used to like cooking a couple of years ago, but now not so much because when I get time to slow down, I have to consider where to spend that time.

I started being health-conscious six years ago cognizant of what food does to my body. I am calculated, to the point I had completely stopped buying food in my house.

One day, we went with my children to a neighbour’s house and I saw how they were devouring sausages and I felt a bit embarrassed.

I started buying them [processed food] in moderation. I try to fill my plate with the recommended half a plate of vegetables, doing a couple of diets successfully.

I even bought an air fryer haha! Don’t buy one. Because the chips it made were just not it. I have bought any gadget you can use for food, even a spiralizer which you can use to make spaghetti from carrots. It looks nice in the picture but eh…haha!

Sounds not so tasteful…It’s an acquired taste haha! I also drink a lot of herbal tea. All sorts. Even my younger boy has adopted it but he is in it for the sugar. I don’t do sugar.

I am sometimes a miti shamba kind of person. I have a tree outside my house, and I do a lot of herbal remedies.

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve bought?

A lot of those are in my kitchen. The spiralizer. And a rice cooker.

Does working in an electric company make you more of a techy buyer?

Ten years ago, I was a buyer. I have since understood that sometimes we buy things emotionally. Now I think about things I want to buy, whether I need them.

Which is a purchase of less than Sh10,000 that has changed your life?

I spend my money on a lot of herbal remedies. As you age you start to think how your skin will look like, how you can help your body.

I spend a lot of money on supplements, especially collagen which I take in powder form. It’s not cheap though haha!

What’s your superpower?

My morning routine. I call it my me-time. I wake up two hours before everyone. I spend the morning just focusing on myself, meditating, listening to an inspirational, journaling, reading, and doing some yoga…the two hours are not even enough. That grounds me for the day.

Are you part of the Robin Sharma 5 am Club?

I wake up at 5 am but I want to move it to 4 am. I don’t know what they do at 5 am.

What is an unusual habit or absurd thing that you love?

I walk a lot, and I listen to books as I walk. That’s how I have been able to read a lot more, almost like I am chatting with a friend.

But you have to be very selective with the books. I cannot listen to a book sitting, I have to be on the move, pairing reading with something else.

What’s the most trouble you’ve been in?

I went to hike Mt Kenya last year. We were three of us and just at the last camp before the summit, one of the hikers got very sick and we had to decide to abandon the trip. We got rescued by a chopper.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done?

Maybe I’m boring haha! I’m a very good girl. Haha!

What’s on your bucket list?

I would like to go to Thailand or those places where they ride elephants. And to also do a cruise.

I should tell you my latest problem: I recently went with my children to Burudani Park in Limuru. I did the air cycling thing. Do you know what happened? [laughs]. Look, I learned how to ride a bike a year ago.

So when I was up there, the bike disconnected, and I was left there, hanging in the air. My children were just laughing at me haha! I didn’t even realise I am afraid of heights.

Do you have a secret talent that nobody knows about?

I started writing and blogging. It’s no longer hidden. I also think I can sing. [proceeds to sing.] I can also milk, is that a talent? Haha! There is a Swahili song I like, by St. Kizito, let me sing for you. That’s the soundtrack of my life.

Like Abraham, I am asking for blessings. [kama ulivyo wingi kama nyota za angani] That is my prayer to be blessed like Abraham, his blessings as many as the stars.

What’s the most boring part of being a CEO?

Every single day has different things. Making difficult decisions is not boring but it is difficult. Sometimes it can be lonely.

There is a way people see you and they imagine you are perfect. Some people don’t want to interact with you because they pedestalize you. Up here, you put more effort just to keep your social circles alive.

What is one question people never ask you but you wished they did?

‘How can I help?’ People never ask me that because they always imagine I have the answers, which is not always the case.

What do you have that money can’t buy?

Passion. A fire in my belly that continually burns, and a drive to realise my full potential.

Who has your back?

I have a very supportive tribe. My family, my children, my husband, and my siblings. I have a strong group of friends that keep me grounded.

Lately, what have you become good at saying no to?

Events and speaking opportunities. I am much more careful where I put my energy because when you are saying yes to many things, you are saying no to others.

Who do you know that I should know?

My maternal grandmother. She turns 100 years old next year. She is still a powerful woman. All the passion and energy we have is because of her. She raised her children to raise powerful people. I have been raised by powerful women.

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