Some days remind you why community matters more than any strategy deck ever could. Friday, 24 July was one of those days.
Consultants from across Kenya and the wider East African region made their way to Nairobi for our first Consultant Connect Day of the year; a chance to step out of inboxes and Zoom calls and actually be in a room together. We've hosted gatherings like this before, but it had been a while, and honestly, none of us expected it to land quite the way it did.
Morning Tea and Old Friends
The day started the way the best ones do: with tea, hugs, and the easy chatter of people who normally only know each other through email threads finally catching up in person. Natasha kicked things off properly, sharing what Nonprofit Builder has been up to and where we are headed. This was followed by introductions that turned out to be far more moving than a simple icebreaker has any right to be. Hearing people describe, in their own words, who they are and the work they pour themselves into, set the tone for everything that followed.
Straight Talk on AI, and the Business of Being a Consultant
From there, the day got practical fast. A candid session on artificial intelligence (AI) in consultancy unpacked where it is genuinely changing the game for independent consultants and where it still falls short. An emphasis on using it responsibly in grantee-facing work was made. It wasn't hype, and it wasn't fear. Just an honest look at a tool reshaping the field in real time.
Next came a hands-on session on selling your expertise, helping consultants sharpen how they present their services in ways that actually resonate with the organisations they hope to support. Less theory, more "here's how you say this better."
After lunch, the energy shifted into logistics — but the good kind. A walkthrough of NPB's new consultant-facing platform answered the practical questions everyone actually has: what's changed, how to navigate it, and what it means for how day-to-day engagements get managed. The floor was full of questions, which is always a good sign.
The Part Nobody Saw Coming
Then came the session that quietly became the heart of the day: an honest, unhurried conversation about consultant wellbeing; the real highs and lows of freelance life, the financial uncertainty, the feast-and-famine cycles nobody talks about openly enough, and what actually helps. Woven through with spoken word performance and live guitar, the room settled into something rare: stillness, reflection, and a lot of nodding heads.
More than one person told us afterwards that it felt like therapy. We are inclined to agree.
The day closed on a forward-looking note: exploring where the capacity-building sector is headed, how consultants and NPB can grow demand for organisational development work together, takeaways from each person in the trust circle, and a wrap-up group photo.
What Came Out of It
Two things emerged that will outlast the day itself:
A new WhatsApp community, so consultants can stay connected, trade opportunities, and support each other long after the room emptied out.
A standing commitment to meet quarterly, in person, simply to check in and keep that sense of community alive.
Consulting can be an isolating way to work. This was everyone's way of saying: not anymore, not if we can help it.
In the days since, we've seen the ripple effect already: several consultants who attended have signed up to host webinars and write for our blog. That kind of follow-through tells us people didn't just leave feeling good, they left motivated.
An Unplanned Echo, 8,000 Kilometres Away
Here is the part that still gives us chills: by complete coincidence, our colleagues in Asia were holding an almost identical gathering with consultants in the Philippines on the very same day. We connected the two rooms virtually for a moment, and there was something genuinely moving about it: two groups on different continents, having strikingly similar conversations about connection, about the loneliness of this work, and about wanting community, at exactly the same time.
Sometimes the universe makes the case for togetherness better than we ever could.
It was, in every sense, a great day: relaxed, honest, occasionally emotional, and full of the kind of connection that's easy to lose in a sector that moves as fast as ours. Thank you to all consultants who committed to be present and to partake in this incredible experience.