How we found success in US travel industry

Contributor

Nation Media Group

Every year, thousands of Kenyans seek greener pastures in the US. Some get lucky, others do not. For those who do, some start with menial jobs and rise to set up their thriving businesses.

Naomi Ogutu, 48, Kea Wakesho Simmons, 41, and Nancy Gakere, 50, are among Kenyans who have found success in the US, all in the travel industry.

“My journey abroad was propelled by the desire to give my children a good life. I’m a single mother of three children. My firstborn daughter, 23, works for the state of New Jersey. My son,19, is a freshman at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, studying Mechanical Engineering Technology, and is already on the Engineering Department Dean’s List. He’s on a full scholarship to a microchip manufacturing company that has also offered him a very prestigious paid summer internship. My other daughter, 17, is also headed to college with a full-ride scholarship. She’s been admitted to 20 universities, but she has zeroed in on two - RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), which offered her the scholarship, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to study aeronautical engineering. We are waiting to get her scholarship package, then she will decide where to go,” she says.