Founder of Amini Business Consulting | Fractional Director of Operations | Operations & Advisory for Founder-Led Businesses
Evelyn Kimani is the founder of Amini Business Consulting — an operations and advisory firm for founder-led businesses in Africa and the Middle East. For five years, she has worked inside growing businesses at the exact moment things start to strain: when the team is there, but the founder is still holding everything together, when growth is happening, but it feels heavier than it should.
That's the problem she solves. She builds the operational structure, systems, and leadership layer that lets founders step back, lead properly, and grow without things falling apart. She works with a small number of clients at a time, which means you get Evelyn, not a process.
ABC’S Story
I grew up around business. I watched people in my family build, hustle, and create income from what they had. From the outside, it looked like success. But over time, I began to notice a pattern—those businesses didn’t last beyond the founder. They weren’t structured to grow, to be handed over, or to be sold.
And I remember quietly asking myself: what makes the difference between a business that survives… and one that scales or becomes a legacy?
That question stayed with me.
Years later, as I stepped into my own journey, I began to see the answer clearly: operations.
Not the visible, exciting side of business—but the structure behind it. The systems. The clarity. The way things run consistently, even when the founder is not in the middle of everything.
But even with that clarity, stepping into this work fully wasn’t easy.
For a long time, I stayed on the sidelines with my business. I questioned whether I was ready, whether I was experienced enough, whether I could really do this at the level I envisioned. And as a Black woman building in the Middle East, there were moments where belief didn’t come naturally—it had to be chosen.
That’s where Amini was born.
“Amini” means believe in Kiswahili—my native language. It was a reminder to myself before it became a business.
Outside of consulting:
Outside of client work, Evelyn writes and speaks on operations, founder leadership, and what it takes to build businesses that outlast their founders. She contributes articles on entrepreneurship and business operations to regional publications, guest lectures at universities and business schools, and speaks at founder communities locally and internationally. She also publishes a weekly newsletter for founders who want to build with intention.