Economy

More students set to benefit from Equity scholarships

wings

Students wave during the awarding of scholarships at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, Nairobi, February 18, 2013. FILE

Equity Group Foundation is targeting to provide 10,000 scholarships for needy students by 2015.

Equity Group Foundation managing director Helen Gichohi said that the foundation has so far supported 8,671 students at a cost of $76.5 million or Sh6.5 billion.

“The programme, which was launched in 2010 with 166 students, has to date admitted 6,396 scholars in 622 schools with equal numbers of boys and girls,” said Dr Gichohi during the Fourth Annual Leadership Congress of the Wings to Fly Scholars at Kenyatta University in Nairobi.

The initiative also focuses on financial education, agribusiness, environment, health, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The foundation expects to transition more than 80 per cent of the beneficiaries to university through Equity Africa Leaders programme.

“Under that programme we have educated 1,550 scholars with 92 of them currently in Ivy League universities in the US,” she said.

Quality of teaching

The foundation also plans to develop an academy that will improve the quality of teaching and mentoring, especially for those who don’t make it to national schools.

Equity Group Foundation main partner in Wings to Fly is the MasterCard Foundation, USAid, UKaid and KfW.

US ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec said USAid was supporting about 3,000 students in the programme and had plans to increase the number to 10,000 students in future.

“The US government is providing nearly $27 million — or  Sh2.3 billion  — to this programme to support more than 3,000 students from every district across Kenya,” he said.

Equity Group chief executive James Mwangi said a meeting was planned with business leaders so that organisations can absorb the beneficiaries as interns once they complete secondary education this year.

“We will be giving internship to students with a mean of B in class work as they wait for their final examination results,” said Dr Mwangi.

Twenty-six students who completed their secondary school education last year are set to join American universities.