NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 15 – When Byron Osiro first sat down to write a book, Red to Green was not the story he intended to tell.What began as a memoir about his life took on a new direction after a mentor challenged him to focus on the one theme that had shaped his evolution — self-determination.The result is a deeply personal but widely relatable book about navigating the hardest seasons of life and emerging on the other side with clarity, purpose and momentum.For Osiro, the traffic-light metaphor is more than a clever title. From Red to Green mirrors his own journey — from the “red zones” of career stagnation, personal uncertainty and self-doubt to the “green side,” where confidence, direction and performance align.“It doesn’t matter where you are right now. If you keep your head up and keep pushing, before you know it, you appear on the other side,” he told an audience during a book launch interview in Nairobi on Friday night.The origins of the book reach far beyond the corporate boardrooms that define Osiro’s present. They trace back to a childhood spent in Uganda, where he lived for 19 years, and a headmaster who would become the single most influential figure in his early life.Born to a Kenyan father and a Ugandan mother, Osiro’s childhood and academic journey in Uganda reflect this dual lineage, after his maternal uncle spotted his potential and took him across the border to pursue his studies.Osiro recalls being thrown into a school where everything — including lessons — was conducted in the local language.“Everything they were saying was in the local language. I didn’t understand anything at first,” he says.Then came the man who reshaped his destiny: his headmaster, Mr. Mbumi. He spotted potential and relentlessly pushed Byron into challenges far beyond his comfort zone.“My headmaster kept throwing challenges at me — he shaped the trajectory of my life.”At one point, the headmaster tasked him with setting up a computer lab — before Byron even knew what a motherboard was.Later, he employed him as a teacher immediately after high school. That mentorship, Osiro says, planted the seeds of resilience and self-belief that would become the backbone of his professional life.A Q and A during the launch revealed another layer of his foundation: family and faith. His wife Marie, described how keeping God at the centre of their journey kept both of them anchored through visible and invisible battles. “You cannot walk without God,” she said. “If you put Him at the centre, everything will be fine.” Her reflections underscored that Osiro’s story is not only corporate — it is deeply spiritual, relational and grounded in partnership.Techie to salesman In the corporate world, Osiro’s pivot into sales wasn’t planned. It was a response to chaos after his former Physics teacher tapped him to run his business while he proceeded for an opportunity abroad.“Things were falling apart. I didn’t have sales experience, but I said — I need to man up and take this challenge.”Suddenly he was dealing with clients, targets, quarterly reviews — and failure. He was in the red.But instead of retreating, he leaned into discomfort. He studied his personas, understood their motivations, and applied a framework he now teaches widely — moving your red personas to amber, and your ambers to green.This idea eventually became the heart of the book.A book shaped by coaching The turning point came during coaching at Romo House, a coaching platform based in Nairobi with a unique focus on humanizing leadership through the art of storytelling“Coaching has happened to me at Romo — they go into your personal life, then they go into your professional life,” he explains.It was during this period of deep introspection that From Red to Green was born — written in two months and published by the fourth.The more he wrote, the more he understood that the story wasn’t just about sales, or even about leadership.It was about survival, direction, identity and clarity.As he told the audience during the Q and A, his transition into new spaces required an internal shift. “I am here on merit,” he said. “I didn’t cheat my way to the top. So any room I enter, I know I belong.”This mindset — of showing up authentically, without pretence — became a recurring theme throughout the launch. “I’m never a cover-letter guy,” he added. “If my experiences can help you, I’ll openly share them. I don’t want you to learn from your own mistakes. It’s expensive.”Byron Osiro, flanked by his wife Marie, presents a copy of his debut book From Red to Green to former Machakos Senator and Parliamentary Service Commission Commissioner Johnstone Muthama at the Nairobi launch event.Although grounded in sales practice, the red-to-green concept, he notes, transcends career — to moving from conflict to communication in relationships, shifting from instability to planning in finances, breaking through inertia and overwhelm in mental health, and moving from doubt to confidence in self-esteem.“Red to green is not just about sales — it could be relationships, finances, or any area of life where you feel stuck.”The Q and A expanded this further, with audience members asking how he finds the strength to keep going when everything seems to fall apart. Osiro ’s answer was simple but powerful: take “just one more step.” He said most of his work — especially in sales — happens when people are in a crisis. “I have to meet you on the human side first,” he said. “Before the transaction, there is a person.”That philosophy also shapes his approach to networking and community building. “You can’t network if you don’t communicate,” he said. The room erupted in laughter when he offered a spontaneous example — calling out a friend who stepped in last-minute to support the event because of a relationship built on authenticity, not convenience. “It’s the connection. Stop cutting corners and having flimsy relationships.”The book is, ultimately, a tribute to the everyday individual — the professional, creative, parent or student — who wakes up stuck in red but still chooses to push forward.More than anything, Osiro hopes his journey encourages others to speak honestly about their struggles and their turning points.“Authentic stories inspire. Authentic stories impact.”For Osiro , From Red to Green is not a celebration of success at the finish line; it is an honest logbook of survival, reinvention and emergence.From Red to Green is the book he never intended to write — but perhaps the one he most needed to.