About Me

Elizabeth “Liz” Nasimiyu Jumah is a Kenyan entrepreneur, humanitarian, and storyteller whose life’s work is centered on resilience, rebuilding, and transforming communities through dignity-driven leadership. Her journey has never followed a straight line.
At 21, she joined Unilever Kenya and quickly rose to become a Foundation Ambassador for Africa, travelling to India and supporting programmes that impacted more than 2.5 million farmers. But just two years later, her corporate career ended unexpectedly through retrenchment.

What followed was a long season of uncertainty.

Determined to build something of her own, Liz ventured into entrepreneurship, starting more than ten businesses over several years- from transport services and agribusiness to fashion blogging, magazine publishing, jewellery making, bookselling, snack distribution, and cleaning services. One by one, they failed.

Eventually, she moved back to western Kenya carrying what remained of her life in a paper bag and began again.

During that season, she lived in a small flooded apartment where every morning began with crossing muddy paths in gumboots while carrying her heels separately in a paper bag before heading out to face the world again. Years later, that image would become the foundation of her upcoming memoir, I Wore Gumboots to My Front Door - The Long Middle- a deeply personal reflection on hidden struggle, womanhood, dignity, and the difficult journey between failure and breakthrough.
From those difficult beginnings, Liz slowly rebuilt. She founded and grew Stery Supermarket and Bakery, creating employment opportunities for young people in her community, before later taking over the leadership of Wema Bukembe Development Organization (Wema BDO), a grassroots organization serving 5000+ people through education, girls’ empowerment, climate action, food security, vocational training, mentorship, and community development.

Today, she leads initiatives including the Wema Girls Cup, a mentorship and football movement empowering hundreds of girls across rural communities, the Wema Technical Training Institute, and the School of Forest Farmers - the first initiative of its kind in Africa promoting agroforestry and climate-smart farming.
Her work has received recognition from organizations including Strathmore University, Lions International, DNALife Organization, the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), the World Bank Youth Summit, and the World Food Forum.
Through her writing, leadership, and community work, Liz is emerging as a powerful voice for people navigating “the long middle”- the often unseen season between collapse and rebuilding, where resilience is formed quietly and dignity must be carried carefully.