Lewis Otieno
Program Manager, Junior Achievement Kenya
Bold Question: How might we equip young athletes with the business and emotional intelligence they need to grow their careers in and beyond sports management?
Path to Metis: Lewis finds his passion in rugby. This is because of the competitive nature of the sport and values of hard work, teamwork and self-discipline that the sport instills. During the ten years that he was actively engaged in playing, he received various local honors, occupied numerous leadership positions and specifically, was Captain and Vice-Captain for his varsity team (USIU – A) and the Kenya Harlequins Rugby team. The pinnacle of his rugby journey was getting an opportunity to represent Kenya between 2006 – 2008. When he cleared High School in 2001 it was his singular objective to one day represent his country on the rugby field. He holds this as his greatest honor to date and as motivation that he can accomplish anything he sets his mind to. He is involved in several initiatives aimed at helping young people realize the potential that is in the fields of sports, arts, and entertainment.
In 2019, he helped in revitalizing a Sports and Arts program that his organization runs by establishing a partnership with the Mombasa County Government Department of Education. In this partnership, they provided mentorship to the participating men and women on how to build successful sports careers and available career opportunities within sports. Currently he is working on improving the program model that will enable young people to benefit from an end to end process that will see a lot more young people embrace and earn a decent livelihood as sports and arts practitioners.
Lewis studied International Business Administration at USIU – Africa and has a certificate in Project Management from Strathmore University. He has over eleven years’ experience in implementing mentorship and economic empowerment programs for young people at Junior Achievement Kenya. This has involved interaction with young people within and outside the formal education sector with involvement in various projects. In this time, he has supported and mentored several young people and helped them actualize their life, career, and business aspirations.
Through these experiences over the last eleven years he can confidently say that he sees beyond his work and is seeking to transform the fields of sports and entrepreneurship and the spirit of sport gives him the energy and motivation to pursue this!
More About Lewis: LinkedIn