Celebrating the
Inaugural Cohort
of the Amahoro
Fellowship Program

My life’s mission and ministry is to help people return to their power. I believe that all of us come into the world with power, but over time, we lose it. We compromise ourselves, betray ourselves, and begin to doubt. Slowly, we bleed and hemorrhage power until we no longer recognize ourselves.

My work is about helping people return to themselves.
I was asked to speak about courageous leadership. Let me tell you a story.

When I started Narachi Leadership, a chairman invited me to speak to his executive team—CEOs from across his group of companies. I was asked to talk about personality and team development. During the session, one man stood out. He was disruptive. Every time someone made a point, he argued. Every time someone showed courage, he made fun of them. He brought people down.

I noticed his behavior, but I stayed silent. I told myself it wasn’t my place to say anything. It seemed he was the chairman’s favorite—a sacred cow. So, I focused on my brief and said nothing.

Five years later, my partner—who had lived abroad for 33 years and said he’d never return to Zimbabwe—came back. He got a job in the very same company. And guess who reported to him? The disruptive man.
That man made my partner’s life miserable. He slandered him, spread rumors, sabotaged him in meetings. After three years, my partner left. It shook our lives. And all I could think about was the moment five years earlier when I had stayed quiet. I had betrayed myself.

Every one of us will face a worthy adversary—someone who forces us to reclaim our courage and stand in our power. When we don’t rise to that moment, there are consequences.

This is why I believe Africa doesn’t have a leadership crisis. We have a courage crisis. We have leaders with skills and expertise. What we lack is leaders who step into their courage.

That’s how I became known as the courage coach. But I wasn’t always courageous. I grew up terrified. I remember pacing for 30 minutes just to ask for money for a school project. My earliest memory is fear.
So speaking about courage today is personal. I spent years watching people with courage and wondering, how do they do it? How do they stay true to themselves in important moments?

I’ve learned that courage is not a special gift. Research shows only 1 in 3 leaders believe they can access courage. But the truth is, courage is a quality, a trait, an emotion—and it’s available to all of us.
Courage lives in the space between our amygdala and our prefrontal cortex. The amygdala is reactive—it exaggerates threats. It makes us fear rejection. But the prefrontal cortex holds reason, problem-solving, and compassion. That’s where courage lives.

Courage is as close to us as our breath. Inhale activates alertness. Exhale brings calm. When we exhale deeply, we activate safety. That’s why breathwork is central to courage. Between stimulus and response, take a breath.

Courage means pausing. Asking questions. Being curious. Working through fear and doing it anyway.
And it also means risking being more of yourself. Most leaders I meet have never touched their true authenticity. We learn to wear masks. We do what’s expected. But courage calls us to be who we truly are.
Carl Jung said, “The greatest privilege of a lifetime is to be who you are.”

But 87% of leaders lack self-awareness. They don’t know their strengths or their blind spots. Without that, you can’t know your unique brand of courage.

Each of us expresses courage differently. Some are connectors, here to bring belonging. Others are challengers, here to shake things up. The journey to courageous leadership starts with returning to who you are.