This paper challenges the western concept of graduate employability as a measure of student success through a case study of a collaboration between pharmacy colleagues in universities in Nairobi, Kenya and Nottingham, UK. As Pharmacy programmes globally adapt their courses to a competency-based education (CBE) approach, we outline the implications of this for graduate success in Kenya. The Ministry of Education in Kenya recently announced a move to CBE across all educational sectors. This has led to a reconfiguring of how pharmacy is not only taught, but also assessed, and what success means for pharmacy graduates in Kenya. The collaboration has highlighted the need for key stakeholders to work together and influence policy change, and redefine employability in terms of behaviours that meet country-wide needs. We outline some of the processes and collaborations we formed to redevelop pharmacy programmes in Kenya, and suggest recommendations for continuing partnerships and sustainability.