A multinational tea company based in Kericho, has awarded bright and deserving students from Kericho and Bomet scholarships worth Sh32 million to pursue their undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs in public and international universities, when their academic year commences in September this year.
James Finlay Company Limited, through their Finlay Community Trust, will support twenty-eight beneficiaries to pursue various disciplines in public universities across the Country, with each receiving a scholarship support of Sh150,000 per year, for the entire duration of their study in addition to equipping each with a laptop.
The Trust also awarded two students with the prestigious scholarship support dubbed Swire Masters Scholarship, to the tune of Sh11million, to pursue their Master’s Degree (MA) program in the United Kingdom (UK).
Speaking during the presentation of the scholarships at a Kericho Hotel, James Finlay (K) Limited Managing Director and Patron of the Trust, Simeon Hutchinson, commended the Trust for their milestone achievement, adding that their investment in young people and in working together with communities by initiating infrastructural projects speared success.
“We are extremely proud of the milestones achieved by the Trust. Their investment in young people through scholarships and infrastructural projects is key in setting up young people for success. Their strategy in partnering with different stakeholders in the community is important in ensuring that the projects invested in, are those most relevant to the community,” said Hutchinson.
In attendance also was the James Finlay Company Limited General Manager External, Mr. Sammy Kirui, who said the Trust awarded the twenty-eight students with an undergraduate scholarship of Sh21 million while in the same breath revealing that the Swire Masters Scholarship Program runs for one year and caters for both tuition and other logistics relevant to the program.
The two students who earned first class honors in their BA degree courses are set to leave the country next week to UK for their MA studies, qualified through a rigorous and competitive process added Kirui.
In an interview with a beneficiary of the undergraduate scholarship fund Titus Kiplangat a former student of Kabianga High School in Kericho County said he was happy that Finlay’s had assisted him to pursue his Bachelor of Science Degree (BSc) in Civil Engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) University after attaining an A grade in his 2020 Kenya Certificate in Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
The students were drawn from the five constituencies in Bomet and six constituencies in Kericho Counties all underwent a competitive and transparent interview selection process that put a strong emphasis on academic excellence and student neediness.
By Sarah Njagi
