Samuel Kariuki, 45, has Mt Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru and Mt Kenya’s Lenana peaks right where he wants them: under his feet.
On an overcast Friday morning when we set out for this interview at his office at Nairobi's Garden City Business Park, Sam, as many call him, is dressed as though he were going on a hike, with boots and a fitness watch to boot.
Twenty-four hours after our meeting, he does a traverse of three mountains: The Twelve Apostles, Mt Kinangop and Elephant Hill. He hikes every two weeks.
It is difficult to separate the Mi Vida CEO from the outdoors, and if we are being specific, the mountains. He goes to the mountains to keep fit, to afford a moment of separation from the busy life of the C-suite office he sits in, and as a form of therapy.
The curiosity that prepared him for this commitment and lifestyle of fitness goes back to his life in Murang’a and later in high school.
“Growing up, one image that stuck in my head was one of King Abdulla climbing Mt Kenya. I admired and promised myself to climb those two peaks. From Form One, I was in the Scouting team, the Survival Club, and the President’s Award Scheme. The only time I have not hiked is when I went to Rwanda, but upon returning in 2016, I resumed.”
Mi Vida CEO Samuel Kariuki.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
70kg and hot yoga
As a permanently outdoorsy person, Sam has kept his weight in check. “My ideal weight is 70 kg, I like to maintain it at 73, but occasionally I get to 76—the highest I ever weighed.”
Through his exercises, he always finds his way back. How does he do this, one would ask. One word: routine.
“Hiking is about routine, order, discipline. In between hikes, you have to keep fit. It's not optional. So, you have to do strength and cardio training. In between my hikes, I do two to three runs a week at different speeds, depending on what I'm trying to achieve. For strength training, I focus on my lower body and legs. It is a need, not something you get to pick and drop at a whim, especially if you're doing the kind of hikes that I do. This routine also trains your mind.”
These treks into the mountains are not merely a hobby he’s kept for decades. They are his sanctuary, his classroom, and in many ways, the foundation of his leadership philosophy.
To contextualise this, picture Sam at 3am on a Saturday, lacing up hiking boots while many people are fast asleep. Before the first light of dawn cracks the skies, Sam is trudging through misty trails, conquering what many would consider a burden.
And because there is a meme for everything these days, there a meme that likens his kind of hiking to madness to which Sam responds, “one has to have a dash of madness to believe in achieving the impossible, to look at a mountain and think you can do a day dash when you really don’t have to is a special kind of madness.”
The mountains are where he finds his alone time — isolation that he recommends for all business leaders. He admits that schedules can get crowded, and tough decisions are always placed on one’s table.
Each moment of his life, if he is not careful, can be condensed to work. As one climbs the corporate ladder, he says, it is easy to forget to live outside work.
“Mountaineering is very meditative. It is the one time you detach completely from the clutter. No calls, no emails, no interruptions. Just you, your thoughts, and nature.”
A key driver in the boardroom, as on the mountain, is his commitment to resilience, balance, and the power of continuous improvement. These have inspired and shaped his leadership style.
In early 2023, a nagging hamstring injury and persistent lower back pain forced him to slow down from his usual rhythm of running and hiking. A friend suggested yoga. This was his entry into yet another fitness experiment that he later entrenched into his regime.
It was at first a punishing exercise. He committed to three or four sessions a week at a hot yoga studio in Nairobi.
“The 90-minute sessions require total concentration to hold each pose. You must really be present both physically and mentally. For you to strike the balances which are needed, you have to really concentrate and have a presence of mind.”
With time, he got used to yoga and, beyond therapy, Sam has mined leadership philosophy from the practice.
“Yoga has given me three gifts. The first is meditation. In those 90 minutes, the world shrinks to nothing but breath and balance, leaving me detached from the constant pressure of leadership. The second is physical fitness—strengthening stabiliser muscles, improving flexibility, and supporting the stamina needed for long hikes and runs. The third is detoxification. Hot yoga, in particular, demands sweat by the litre, cleansing my body and lightening my frame.”
He kept going even after his injury healed. It is now in his weekly fitness routine. Sometimes he attends classes, but often he practices alone at home, flowing through the steps he has memorised. For him, it is less about exercise and more about self–care.
Drawing comparisons
Mountains, however metaphorical they sound in the day-to-day life, have remained a deeply personal experience for Sam. The long hours of solitude he spends on trails have forced him to reflect on who he is, first as a man, then as a leader.
The physical struggles are humbling. “You are reminded every time you go up a mountain that you are just a man, and sometimes things can get hard. But you know that summits reward persistence.”
Samuel Kariuki, Mi Vida CEO, stands at Point Lenana, Mt Kenya in February 2025.
Photo credit: Pool
He shares a common urban joke: “They say that mountains are for people whose hearts have been ‘character developed.’ I think about it even more profoundly as a good character developer, and this has nothing to do with chivalry. You do get tested.
“And as a leader, mountains remind me that I can go beyond certain levels of discomfort. Some of the best decisions I’ve made have come to me up there. When you are detached, when the noise is gone, solutions just appear.”
Mountain lessons
The lesson there is apparent: leaders must occasionally step away, climb their own mountains—literal or figurative—and meet themselves anew.
Without that, the demands of the boardroom, the emails, the calls, the perpetual crises, will eventually consume them. He has chosen the harder path of early rising, muddy trails, and pushing his body to the limit—because he knows it sharpens him for the equally demanding climbs of leadership.
He has also learned a thing about teamwork. “Even as an experienced hiker, I still use the services of guides. We need to be in constant communication, to work together if we are to hit our targets. That is only achievable in both mountaineering and corporate circles when we join hands, when we walk and work together for common goals.”
Sam concludes by saying, “Whatever I start, I must complete. That is the lesson of the mountain. That is the lesson of leadership.”
