More than 1,000 beneficiaries of Wings to Fly and Elimu Scholarship in Coast have undergone a three-day intensive training on value-based leadership at Shimo la Tewa School in Mombasa.
Equity Group Chief Commercial Officer Samuel Makome said there are 18 such annual education and leadership congresses going on across the country with 18,000 scholars in form one and two students.
The Wings to Fly mentorship programme holds two biennial congresses for scholars, Form Three and Form Four congress was held in May.
“This scholar congress has been going on for three days. We brought in about 1,300 young scholars in our wings to fly and Elimu Scholarship programme covering Mombasa, Taita-Taveta as well as Kwale and part of Kilifi,” said Samuel Makome – Equity Group Chief Commercial Officer
Apart from giving support for their academics and their livelihoods, Makome said they also instil leadership values through mentorship and tips on academic success.
“We also teach them how to give back to society and gender sensitivity. It’s a development programme. When the student is finishing his fourth year, he is a fully grown-up person who can give back to society and is also an academic success,” added Makome.
Through its social engine wing, Equity Bank has for more than 20 years transformed the lives of students through scholarships in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation and Ministry of Education.
“The education programme is part of the social engine and we have always supported other partners like the MasterCard Foundation and the Ministry of Education,’’ disclosed Makome.
Makome said Equity is keen to churn out value-based leaders who will take over the mantle of leadership and transform society.
Over the years the mentorship programme has kept growing in numbers of scholars and partnerships.
“The category of learners is significantly disadvantaged. Some of them come from very poor homes and some of them left their villages for the first time. They require a lot of affirmation, training and a lot of development,” said Makome.
He went on, “They need to be taught to be confident, to be self-aware and to develop as a whole being.”
Since the inception of the scholarship programme by Equity, 82 per cent of the beneficiaries have made it to universities locally and abroad. More than 1000 beneficiaries have so far been airlifted to study abroad in 35 countries, and 100 were flagged last month to join the world’s best universities.
By Sadik Hassan
