Optiven Foundation has partnered with private equity firm Fusion Capital to empower over 8, 000 needy students from twenty counties across Kenya.
Under this new partnership, Fusion Capital has injected Sh2 million into Optiven Foundation’s Soaring Eagles Scholarship Programme (SESP) which falls under its Education pillar. The new injection will further boost the Foundation’s day schools intervention programme that seeks to initially empower 20 students per day school, from 20 day schools, in 20 counties.
Despite the free primary and secondary school programme roll out in Kenya, a good number of students are still missing out on education due to lack of basics such as uniforms, exercise books and food.
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Optiven Foundation stepped into this gap by partnering with Kenya’s Ministry of Education to identify day schools that have students with these dire needs across the country.
The Foundation’s programme has been designed to give hope to bright, deserving children by giving them the opportunity to obtain an education and resultant benefits including better educational outcomes, improved chances of success in life, increased gender equality in secondary school education, new opportunities for students from rural areas to access education and greater social integration among students.
“Focusing on education in Kenya, empowerment and sponsorship on the needy deserving children will have a tremendous effect on these students’ lives” says George Wachiuri, Optiven Foundation Chairman and Trustee.
This new partnership will now further boost Optiven Foundation’s efforts to enhance access to education in Kenya.
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“Whereas Africa is quickly rising, there are still several challenges that we must continually address and one of those is quality education. Poverty has a way of becoming a stumbling block to the African Child getting a proper education. Where families struggle with shelter, sicknesses, drunkenness, divorce, unemployment, food etc, education becomes the easiest to sacrifice. I, therefore, believe corporates should continue pumping money into quality education to help the needy bright students. We thank those who have already gone ahead of us such as Equity Bank,” said Daniel Kamau, Chief Executive Officer, Fusion Capital.
He added that whereas, provision of basic amenities such as food and shelter is great, education supersedes them as it has the power to transform one’s life.
“We believe in a double bottom-line approach where we deliver profits to our investors and social impact in the communities where we invest. It is thus our intention to create an impact where we invest and live within the East African Region. This can be done by empowering our young brothers and sisters who are ultimately the future generation,” he said.
Optiven Foundation also seeks to offer to students who benefit from SESP, continuing mentorship and talent management, which is meant to expose them early enough, to huge career possibilities in their schooling journey.
“Education is the premise of progress in every society. We are therefore extremely pleased to support these children who now have an opportunity to go to school and study and probably end up becoming great leaders in our society. SESP has so far assisted hundreds of deserving Kenyan cases from poor family backgrounds across all the 47 Kenyan counties,” says Wachiuri.
The Foundation has been involved in charitable works on the key areas of poverty alleviation, environmental protection, education and health. Its mission is to create visible transformation that positively impacts communities, partners and all other stakeholders through sustainable social-economic programs for generations to come.
