ICEA Lion CITO Paul Kioi’s office is a world of digital innovation and corporate strategy. As head of technology and transformation, he manages the challenges of digital systems, the changing needs of tech infrastructure and the pressures of corporate values and business growth.
Paul Kioi enjoys growing people. But that’s not all. On a small compound in Kiambu, he is growing a forest, an endeavour he says isn’t very different from supporting an ethical business.
Paul works in an environment focused on numbers, targets, and tight deadlines, where clear thinking and new ideas are key to staying competitive and helping the business grow. But step into his personal life and you will find an entirely different scene. Paul, an avid hiker and mountain climber, having summited Mount Kilimanjaro twice and Mount Kenya once, is often knee-deep in soil, tending to young indigenous trees on a piece of land in Kiambu.
The balance of tech and nature
This is not a hobby he picked up casually. It is a deeply personal and meaningful endeavour that reflects his inner values and worldview. It is also a living, growing testament to a belief that has taken root in his heart: that the same values which drive a successful and ethical business should also govern our relationship with the natural world.
“I think we should start by saying that there’s somehow a very clear linkage between trees and values, if I may put it that way, and there’s also a clear connection between transformation and values,” he says.
He adds: “The moment you remove values from transformation, whether in a business or in a forest, you’re left with exploitation. It becomes about extracting without replenishing, and that’s where damage happens, to people or to nature.”
Paul’s environmental mission was sparked by a simple domestic moment. His wife, noticing the growing number of trees in their small compound, suggested they needed more space.
“She told me, ‘This is turning into a forest, maybe find another place for them,’” Paul recalls with a laugh. “That’s when I remembered a piece of land from my childhood and thought it might be the right place.”
When he visited the site, what he saw jolted him. “Going back, it was really a shock for me,” he says. “It had been exploited, trees had been cut and it was almost getting into a desert.”
From destruction to regeneration
The land he had known as lush and green was now dry, depleted, and broken, a mirror, he felt, of what happens when values are ignored for short-term gain.
The tree planting started simply with a few dozen seedlings, carried there from his home. But it grew quickly. What began with a humble goal to plant 1,000 trees has now grown into a forest of more than 5,000 indigenous trees.
This deeply personal project became even more significant following a profound loss. Paul’s wife passed away during the early days of the initiative, and the effort to plant trees and restore the land became a way to honour her life and the values they both held dear.
The most rewarding part of his journey, he says, is the ripple effect it has had on the surrounding community.
“After I started, my neighbours got curious. One of them came over and asked what I was doing, and the next thing I knew, she was planting her own forest. Now she has over 10,000 trees,” Paul says.
“You can’t transform yourself alone,” he says. “You have to transform the entire community. That’s when change sticks.” The project also challenges mainstream notions of development.
“I think we’ve misunderstood development. We think it’s roads, buildings, concrete. But that’s just one type. There’s development that heals, development that restores land, air, water, and people. That’s what I’m after,” Paul says.
He believes conservation should not be seen as a roadblock to progress, but a critical part of it.
“It’s like digital transformation,” he explains. “If you only look at short-term metrics, you miss the bigger picture. If you look at short-term, it doesn't seem to add value. But when you put a long-term perspective, you find the value of actually investing in that transformation.”
Purposeful leadership across sectors
Paul’s journey reflects an important truth about leadership. It shows how the same guiding principles, integrity, vision, collaboration, and long-term thinking can be applied across different domains of life.
Whether leading a tech transformation at ICEA Lion or regenerating a forest in the dry parts of Kiambu, the values remain consistent. Through his actions, Paul has not only restored a patch of land but has inspired a mindset shift in those around him.
“This isn’t just about planting trees. It’s about planting ideas. Planting hope. Planting something that can grow and outlive you,” he says.
