What a Pig Farmer in Kenya Taught Me About Building the Next Generation Leader
I first met Christine in 2025 while visiting Nairobi, Kenya.
She’s a single mom who had been abandoned and left to raise her children with very little. At one point, she didn’t have enough money to care for her own kids, and had to send them to a relative to live.
Then something changed. Through the mission, A Bright Future for Kids, Christine was given an opportunity to learn, receive some financial support, and start a small business.
She chose pigs. When I first met her in 2025, she had 12 pigs. But she had a much bigger vision.
100 pigs!
I loved hearing her talk about it. There was something powerful about watching someone who had once been asking, “How do I survive?” begin asking, “How big can this become?”
Today, as of August 2026, Christine has around 20 pigs. And with several of her females expecting, she could potentially be managing 50 by the end of the year.
But honestly, that’s not the part of her story that excites me most. Her teenage son watched what his mom was doing and said: “Can I raise pigs too?”
Christine helped him get his first pig—a male.
He raised it. Sold it for a profit. Then used the money to buy a female. And now his pig is expecting piglets. He even pays his mom a percentage of his profits to house and care for his pigs alongside hers.
Think about that for a minute. Christine isn’t just building a pig business. She’s building an entrepreneur.
And that may be her greatest leadership accomplishment yet.
It reminded me of something we can easily forget as business leaders, parents, grandparents, coaches and mentors:
Our greatest impact may not be what we accomplish.
It may be what we teach someone else to accomplish.
The next generation is watching.
Our kids are watching how we handle money.
How we treat people.
How we respond when things don't go our way.
How we work.
How we recover from failure.
How we lead.
And in our businesses, the same thing is happening. Your team is watching you.
The question isn't simply, “Am I building a successful business?” A better question might be: “Am I building people who can succeed without me?”
Christine is teaching her son to work hard, take risks, invest wisely, manage a business and create something of his own. That’s leadership. Not just doing the work but multiplying the work. Not just building a business. Building the next generation of leaders.
And sometimes, the best leadership lesson comes from a pig farmer in Kenya.
Rusty Fulling