Defining research career paths that enable Africans to address local and global health issues is essential for population health. This study was conducted to better understand how international health training programs contribute to human resource capacity building in health research. Research career motivations, decision-making and experiences were explored among a small group of Kenyan HIV/AIDS researchers who had completed an international training program. We found that intersecting social dynamics within specific geographic spaces influenced individual training decision-making and motivated research career decisions over time. The concept that ‘geo-social motivation’ is an important determinant of success for an African considering a research career developed from this study, and may be used to tailor future health research human resource capacity-building programs.