Interview with Caroline Mwazi

Grow Learn Connect: How did your professional career start and transition to consulting?

Caroline Mwazi: I went into banking directly from high school and worked in the industry for 16 years, rising to the role of corporate relationship manager at Barclays Bank. The training bug bit me in 2005 when the bank started a volunteer trainer program. I joined the program to improve my presentation skills and discovered a love for training and transformation. After completing my MBA degree, I decided I liked learning and development so much that I moved to consultancy in 2007.

GLC: What motivated you to start your own business?

CM: Desire for a career change, more time, freedom, and wanting to share my knowledge and passion for business and people development in an expanded way, while making money. It’s been a beautiful journey that has seen me travel and work on exciting projects with different partners across the world.

GLC: What are your career goals?

CM: To grow my company Huru Consult into a stellar boutique consultancy that delivers essential training and consulting projects to the highest standards, regionally and internationally.

GLC: How did you start working with IFC?

CM: It all began in 2008 when I was accepted as a trainer on IFC’s Growth Oriented Women Entrepreneur (GOWE) project to deliver ILO’s Expand Your Business (EYB) training program. This was the start of a very interesting journey through which I have worked on several IFC projects and enhanced my skills as a trainer, master trainer and consultant.

GLC: What are your greatest strengths as a trainer?

CM: I’m strategic and able to apply big picture thinking and problem-solving skills to projects. I also find it easy to create innovative, learner-focused content and build rapport with participants to create mutually rewarding and memorable learning experiences.

GLC: What are your weaknesses?

CM: I take on a lot and want to do it all super excellently. As I have grown I have realized that one can only do so much and must create sound systems and structures and surround oneself with amazing talent. As John C. Maxwell says, "One is too small a number to achieve anything of significance!"

GLC: Do you have any success stories to share about clients you trained?

CM: More recently, as part of an SME Ecosystem Strengthening initiative in Kenya, which I provided technical expertise for, I also designed and delivered a series of training webinars and workshops on curriculum design, training skills, business coaching & mentoring, and leadership development to over 70 entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs). The impact of this work is expected to be far-reaching and translate into better-run ESOs, and, by extension, better entrepreneurship development programs. 

GLC: What would your family and friends tell us about the Caroline they know?

CM: She is driven and ambitious and cares very much for them. She also has a full schedule and occasionally puts them on hold when working on her exciting projects!

GLC: Tell us about the book you're currently working on. What motivated you to write it?

CM: It’s a training skills book coming out in 2024 in which I have tried to include everything a trainer should know, with material on facilitating online learning and facilitating live in remote locations which are so common in developing countries.

Lightning Round Interview Questions

Your favorite quote? "Small, daily, seemingly insignificant improvements, when done consistently over time lead to stunning results" by Robin Sharma.

Where do you source inspiration? Everywhere–it’s all around us!

What are your hobbies? Dancing, theatre, traveling, and meeting and getting to know people.