Mike Eldon, an IT enthusiast turned management consultant, coach and a newspaper columnist, whose trainings touched many in university lecture halls and corporate boardrooms, has died at 80.
Eldon died on January 29, in Nairobi after battling an illness for some time, sparking off widespread tributes for a gentleman widely known for his humour, integrity and zeal for leadership transformation as well as youth mentorship.
“Mike was sharp as a razor until the very end. The kind of man who walked into a room and made everyone in it feel like they mattered; a true role model of a humanised leader,” Martin Oduor-Otieno, a former bank executive and chairman and CEO of Leadership Group Limited, a Nairobi-based consulting firm, said in a tribute.
“Mike, I'm going to miss those conversations, but I will miss the laughter even more,” he added.
In the last months of his life, Eldon penned humourous and touching testimonials, revealing his battle with an illness, and even wrote a public letter to his grandchildren on how they could “lead a happy and fulfilled life”.
In early December 2025, Eldon, in an article in his long-running column in this publication, wittily revealed that health issues were holding him back from “action”.
“Recently, I was captured by another health issue that laid my energy flat, and so I have again been reflecting on how I have been dealing with it and how that, in turn, may help readers here who are also having to face such performance-halting setbacks,” Eldon said.
“It’s that very low-energy level which is so frustrating, preventing one from concentrating on whatever one had been doing. It’s even hard to read for more than a little while, and watching the news about (Donald)Trump and his tariffs certainly won’t fill the gap,” he added.
Eldon narrated how an illness had drained his energy, but he wasn’t giving up on his work.
“The natural state for me at these times has been to just be, to do nothing. Just to breathe, to sit or to lie down, and to hope that after a while, I’ll find if not the energy then at least a way to defy its absence and do something – like write an article such as this on my laptop,” Eldon wrote.
“I challenge and defy my apathy, knowing that even in my lowest of conditions, I still want to be and am active in my mind and to share what I am going through. I can be at my desk for not too long, but leave it feeling I have not completely wasted my day with nothing to say about it, other than that I made it through to the evening. I have evidence of initiative, feeling proud that I have exceeded any reasonable expectation of accomplishment,” he added.
Earlier in July, Eldon wrote a moving public letter to his grandchildren and titled it “To my grandchildren: how you can lead a happy and fulfilled life”.
He said he wrote the letter at the request of his daughter, who wanted some wise counsel for her children.
“My dear grandchildren, all three of you are delightful young characters. Each of you is different, with your own characters and personalities, your own natural strengths, and areas where you are much less comfortable. You are lucky to have wonderful parents who know how to get the best out of you. And they are lucky that you take advantage of all they have to offer you,” Eldon wrote.
“As you make your way through your teenage years, like all teenagers, there’s so much exploring you do. Some of it fills you with anxiety, and setbacks occur. And some fill you with excitement, as your achievements give you the confidence to continue being bold and courageous. Among these, it’s very impressive to see you are with those who have been playing leadership roles,” he added.
In his letter, Eldon urged his grandchildren to be humble, while enjoying their respective competencies, and also stay curious, asking questions and not just spouting their own views.
“I’m happy my grandchildren have a strong sense of humour and enjoy plenty of laughter. Where there is this lightness, it so reinforces emotional intelligence, making it much easier to work and play together,” Eldon said.
“I asked my grandchildren to think about it all, to chat with each other, and to get back to me. The way it worked out was that my daughter read my letter to each of her children separately, and this led to good conversations between them. As I hope it does between you and relevant relatives,” he further stated.
Born on March 17, 1945, Eldon grew up in the United Kingdom and was an economics graduate of University College London and a Sloan Fellow of the London Business School. He entered the IT field in 1967, arriving in Kenya in 1977 to become general manager of multinational computer companies in Kenya, International Computer Limited ICL, Wang and IBM.
He was a pioneer in the development of the use of IT in Kenya and was deeply involved with the development of Kenya’s first national ICT policy.
Eldon reinvented himself as a management consultant close to two decades ago and worked with a wide range of clients, including national and county governments, public and private sector organisations, family businesses, NGOs, the World Bank and GIZ.
He was an adjunct faculty member at Strathmore Business School, a Senior Leadership Adviser to the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); and an adjunct faculty member in the development and delivery of the transformative leadership programme for the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications in their joint initiative with the Harvard Kennedy School.
He was also a Global Partner of the World Bank’s Collaborative Leadership for Development initiative, where he ran workshops on leadership in Kenya and beyond, as well as being an executive coach.
Further, Eldon had been chairman of the Council of KCA University, chairman of the Council of the Kenya Institute of Management and was a founding director and later vice-chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, where he served as a member of the advisory council and of the nominating committee.
Eldon was a founder member of The Management Consultants Association of Kenya and also been a director of the Kenya Education Management Institute and of the African Institute for Policy Development.
He was a founder, chairman, and lead consultant of The DEPOT (The Dan Eldon Place Of Tomorrow), a management consultancy that focuses on leadership, strategy, change management, culture strengthening, performance management, and coaching.
He was also the chairman of Occidental Insurance and an independent director of Davis & Shirtliff, where he chaired its Board Audit Risk and Compliance Committee. He was a co-founder of the Institute for Responsible Leadership, which was launched in London in October 2019.
Eldon is survived by his widow, Evelyn Mungai, and children Dan and Amy, Eric and Wachuka as well as many grandchildren.
