Ask most people and culture leaders how they ended up in HR and the answer is rarely a straight line. For Sarah Omaya, director of HR at Acorn, Laura Oliwa, head of people, culture and administration at Amref Flying Doctors, Eva Ng'ang'a, people and culture manager at Amadeus East Africa and Hannah Karuru, chief people officer at Capwell Industries, the profession arrived sideways.
What Sarah Omaya, director of HR at Acorn, Laura Oliwa, head of people, culture and administration at Amref Flying Doctors, Eva Ng'ang'a, people and culture manager at Amadeus East Africa and Hannah Karuru, chief people officer at Capwell Industries, share is not a planned career path. It is the moment they realised the work had found them before they had found it.
Sarah Omaya, director of HR at Acorn, traces her pivot to a conversation she did not plan. Someone told her bluntly that her eyesight ruled her out of aeronautical engineering. She spoke to her sister, who took her to a friend already working in the HR field for guidance.
“They didn't know how to describe HR to me so they were like, I deal with people,” Sarah recalls. “That is what I absorbed, and it was one of the best decisions because my heart ticks when I think about HR. I partner with organisations to help them create environments that allow people to thrive because you spend a bulk of your productive time at the workplace. So, it must make sense.”
That unexpected conversation became the start of a career she had never imagined for herself.
Choosing passion
For Laura Oliwa, head of people, culture and administration at Amref Flying Doctors, HR was familiar long before it became her full-time path.
Laura grew up watching her mother in personnel management at what was then Smith Kline Beecham. She went to university, specialised in HR and then graduated straight into a customer service role at Kenya Airways. Fifteen years inside aviation followed before HR finally claimed her properly. When she eventually made the lateral move to the HR team at Kenya Airways, there was no salary increase but she took it anyway.
“I wanted HR so bad at that point. I was okay to make a lateral move. Of course, it was a bit of a struggle at the time, I had had my first child and my resources were stretched. But I had so much passion for what I did,” she says.
It was not the easiest decision, but it was the one that felt right.
Finding the right fit
Eva Ng'ang'a, people and culture manager at Amadeus East Africa, clocked fifteen years in the profession in 2026, all of them tracing back to an internship. She was a project coordinator and the function handed her exposure to the full breadth of HR work, and she stayed.
“I just found myself doing HR to be honest. Looking back fifteen years down the line, if you ask me whether I chose the right career path, I would definitely say yes because it aligns with my own personal values. I find it's my joy when I support people and support businesses and come up with solutions to some of the challenges they go through,” she says.
What began almost by accident turned into a career that felt closely aligned with who she was.
Seeing people differently
Hannah Karuru, chief people officer at Capwell Industries, studied psychology and joined an NGO in programme administration. A project manager noticed something and told her.
That simple observation pushed her to think differently about the kind of work she was naturally drawn to.
“My project manager told me I'm very good with people, handling situations, that's what psychology teaches you,” Hannah says. “I got interested in just managing the entire cycle of the employee, and it's through that that I went back to do a postgraduate course in HR. I really have a love and passion for people. I don't want you to rely on what the organisation provides. What are you doing yourself to grow? The more you become better, the more opportunities find you."
