John Matogo, Manager @iBizAfrica (left), Dr. Joseph Sevilla, Director @iLabAfrica, Perry Kamau, Consultant, Deloitte, Marilyn Were, Consultant, Deloitte and Charles Oduor, Director, Technology Advisory Services, Deloitte

Deloitte Consulting Ltd, a professional business advisory firm, will collaborate with Strathmore University in helping the businesses that join the Incubation Program, @iBizAfrica.

Deloitte will participate in the selection committee for applicants, invest in businesses that enter the program and actively engage in guiding success of the businesses.

@iBizAfrica is the business incubator of Strathmore University, which started operations in January 2012. A call for applications, to join the Incubation Program, which closed on 10th April 2012, attracted 29 businesses ideas seeking to be incubated. These applications go through a selection process before final acceptance in the incubator. More information is available at www.ideafoundation.com

Through the collaboration with various partners, including Deloitte, @iBizAfrica will offer innovative business ideas an opportunity to be incubated. The incubator will provide the innovators with an opportunity to commercialize their innovations by providing a number of support services which include a premises, seed capital, mentoring, coaching and training.

@iBizAfrica, is currently hosted by @iLabAfrica on the 4th Floor of the Student Centre building. The incubator will move to the 5th Floor later in the year. Inquiries on how to join the Incubation Program can be channeled to the Manager, John Matogo via email: jmatogo@strathmore.edu. ]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/05/16/deloitte-to-provide-mentoring-and-coaching-to-ibizafrica-incubatees/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/05/11/ilabafrica-signs-up-cio-east-africa-as-media-partner/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/05/11/ilabafrica-signs-up-cio-east-africa-as-media-partner/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 16:50:46 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1473

Harry Hare, Director of CIO East Africa and Dr Joseph Sevilla, Director @iLabAfrica exchange documents

@iLabAfrica has signed a memorandum of understanding with CIO East Africa. CIO East Africa is a leading ICT news house in the East Africa region. It produces a monthly publication that highlights ICT investment opportunities, innovation, intellectual property and trends of the converging technologies.

CIO also organizes various networking seminars and events on technology matter the most notable being the quarterly breakfast series and the CIO 100.

Through this collaboration CIO East Africa will become a media partner of @iLabAfrica, by providing publicity to its activities. In addition, @iLabAfrica will contribute articles to the monthly CIO magazine; participate in the quarterly breakfast and CIO 100 survey.

@iLabAfrica will also carry out product reviews on new hardware and software that will be featured in the CIO magazine.

CIO will distribute the monthly magazine through @iLabAfrica and SU Library.

Left to right: Vice Chancellor Prof John Odhiambo and His Excellency Archbishop Alain Paul Lebeaupin, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya signing the agreement to establish the Fund

The University has been entrusted with €30,000 to set up an endowment fund in honor of the Late Archbishop Clemente Faccani. An endowment fund is a type of an investment fund set up by an institution in which regular withdrawals from the invested capital are used. Returns from the fund will be given as scholarships.

Archbishop Clemente Faccani who passed on last year was the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya from 1983 to 1996. Vice Chancellor Prof John Odhiambo and His Excellency Archbishop Alain Paul Lebeaupin, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya signed an agreement to establish the Fund on Tuesday, 17th April.

The monies in the fund are entrusted to the University by the Vatican Secretary of State which is the Administrator of the late bishop’s estate. The Nuncio represented the Vatican Secretary of State.

The fund will give tuition fees for one student per year for a maximum of four years consecutively. That means a new student will be sponsored every four years. The student will cater for his/her living expenses and accommodation.

Who qualifies for the Scholarship?

The scholarship will go to a Kenyan student admitted to any degree in Strathmore University and who meets the following conditions:

1. Has a minimum of at least an A- mean grade in KCSE
2. Comes from a hardship area in Kenya
3. Should be needy
4. Be a Catholic

About The Late Archbishop Clemente Faccani

The late Archbishop Clemente Faccani was born on October 19 1920 in Lugo, Italy. He was ordained a priest on April 10 1943. He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Serra, as well as Nuncio to Kenya on June 27 1983.

He was ordained Archbishop on September 3 1983 and was also appointed the Apostolic Nuncio to Seychelles on February 7 1985. He resigned from his duties as Apostolic Nuncio having reached 75 years old as stipulated by Canon Law on March 9 1996. He passed away on September 15 2011. ]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/04/23/su-entrusted-with-the-late-nuncio%e2%80%99s-scholarship-scheme/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/04/10/dr-mcfie-appointed-to-commission-probing-cmc/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/04/10/dr-mcfie-appointed-to-commission-probing-cmc/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:53:33 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1465

Dr. James McFie

Dr James McFie, the Director of Research and Academics in the School of Management and Commerce has been appointed to the commission that will receive submissions from current and former Cooper Motor Corporation (CMC) board members accused of irregular dealings at the company.

The commission is headed by former anti-corruption boss, Justice (Rtd) Aaron Ringera.  Other members of the commission are Jacqueline Kamau, Mahmood Manji and Rose Detho.

Ms Kamau is an arbitrator and is currently the chairperson of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Kenya’s Executive Committee. Mr. Manji is a Director at the Capital markets Authority (CMA), and Ms Detho is the Director at the Deposit Protection Fund Board at the Central Bank of Kenya.

Persons mentioned adversely in the forensic audit report by South African firm Webber Wentzel will present their defense to the committee, the CMA said on Friday when it formed the team.

Former CMC directors Jeremiah Kiereini, Martin Forster, and current directors Charles Njonjo have been identified as parties to illegal off-shore accounts in which inflated charges on the company’s vehicle imports were siphoned and later paid to a few people.

The Webber report also found that Peter Muthoka’s logistics firm, Andy Forwarders, had been charging high prices for its services to CMC, but ruled out criminal conduct on Mr. Muthoka’s part.

“The appointment of the ad hoc committee underpins our commitment to protect all shareholders and the investing public as well as uphold market confidence,” said Stella Kilonzo, the CMA chief executive.

The commission is expected to start the hearings tomorrow and will sit for two months, subject to any extension granted by the board of CMA.

Pro-Chancellor Fr (Dr) Silvano Ochuodho cutting the ribbon to mark the official opening of SU's Medical Clinic

The sweltering March 28th heat did not keep Strathmore University staff, students and distinguished guests and partners from coming together for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony of the University’s Medical Clinic.

Under the shade of tents positioned in front of the freshly finished clinic, the group heard from Strathmore Pro-Chancellor Fr (Dr) Silvano Ochuodho; Vice Chancellor Prof John Odhiambo; and Advancement and External Relations Director Mr. Luis Borallo, and the University’s physician, Dr. Evans Almeida.

The event was centered on gratitude to those who made the clinic possible. The University’s unique vision for health was also highlighted.  The clinic has been in operation since December 2011.

The combined efforts of Strathmore’s partners have helped to erect the medical centre in less than two years. Impressive as that is, one truly realizes the feat when they enter the building, which appears of modest size on the outside.

The facility seems to have many more rooms than its apparent capacity. It has a pharmacy, a laboratory, a three bed recovery room, several consultants’ rooms and a tea room among others. There was general amazement as guests moved casually through the building.

“It’s amazing—you would never think there were so many rooms and it was this well-equipped from the outside. This—this is resources well-used,” said Mentoring Services Director Ms Maria Otero.

The Vice Chancellor began the event by explaining the service the clinic will provide not only to the University’s students and staff, but also to the community at large.

“Strathmore does not think outside the box. Strathmore throws away the box,” the VC said.

“Our focus will not simply be ‘curing people’. It will be preventative health—fixing problems before they occur,” he continued.

As a University clinic where the majority of the population is in generally in good health, the Vice Chancellor explained that the medical staff’s attention will go towards maintaining good mental and physical health.

The VC hopes for “a research institution which will attract international scholars.” The Clinic is already hosting the Centre for Research in Therapeutic Sciences (CREATES).

Pro-Chancellor Silvano offered a supernatural outlook. A hospital which strives for excellence in care, must also view its mission “in human terms,” he said. “May the Christian inspiration of Strathmore never lack here; may all who collaborate in what is carried out here always be sustained by those Christian values.”

He suggested that the clinic staff operate on the concession that in the end, “God heals” and that those with medical training should “act as his instruments.”

Citing Scripture, he reminded guests of the many instances of Christ’s healing powers. The research, success stories, and healing that will come out of Strathmore Medical Centre should bear in mind then, the words of St. Luke: “And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him.” (Luke 6:19)

Mr. Borallo gave the vote of thanks to all the partners present and not present alike. He recognized the many local and international partners who contributed to the clinic, spanning the globe from Ireland to Spain to Kenya.

He said that the clinic was already collaborating with the neighboring Kwetu Home of Peace children’s home to provide medical care to the boys there.

After speeches were made and thanks given, the crowd gathered at the front doors for the ribbon-cutting. The Pro-Chancellor and University Chaplain Father John Peter Maldonado blessed the building with Holy Water and said a prayer in front of the large crowd gathered in the sparking new reception area.

The winning team. L to R: Mutisya Wilson, Chiuri Kagume and Mbugua Ian

Team Exygen comprises 4th year Bachelor of Commerce students: Wilson Mutisya, Chiuri Kagume and Ian Mbugua. It was one of the two teams selected to represent Africa and Asia at the GSVC (Global Social Venture Competition) to be held at Hass Business School, University of California, Berkeley in California, USA, in April from the 18th to 21st 2012.

Team Exygen was selected at the Africa and Asia round of the competition held at the India Business School (ISB) from March 8th to 10th. Strathmore sent three teams to ISB. They were Team Chagua Plus, Team Exygen and Team M-calc.

Strathmore entered the competition for the first time in late 2009. The team from the University’s School of Management and Commerce (SMC) was the first team in Africa to make it to the Asia finals which took place in March 2010.

In late 2010, SMC again entered two business plans in the Asia finals that were held in March 2011. In December, the School of Management and Commerce held the first GSVC competition on African soil and selected the teams that represented Kenya in the Asia-Africa finals at the Indian School of Business (ISB).

There were 200 business plans received from Asia and Africa. The competition was in three rounds. The first was to select 18 teams. The second was to select the top 6 teams from the 18. And the third round was to select the top two teams from the six to represent Asia and Africa.

Team Exygen is among the top two teams! “We are very proud of our students. The caliber of competitors and business schools at the competition were nothing short of the best, and we are very glad that this achievement cements the fact that Strathmore does indeed produce the best,” said Mr. David Wang’ombe, the Dean of SMC who led the Strathmore teams at the Africa-Asia finals.

We wish Team Exygen all the best in the global finals!

GSVC was initiated by the Haas School of Business in 1999. Its mission is to promote entrepreneurial businesses that have clear and quantifiable social objectives and are financially sustainable, through revenue generation.

The competition is highly regarded globally now.  Its current global partners include Columbia Business School, London Business School and India School of Business. Thammasat University and Social Venture Competition Korea (SVCK) have recently joined as regional partners.

Dr. Caroline Anstey, the Managing Director of the World Bank (2nd left) takes a close look at a website developed by David Lemayian (left), a BBIT student. Others are DVC (Academic Affairs) Prof Izael Da Silva (right) and the World Bank

Dr. Caroline Anstey, the Managing Director of World Bank visited the University on February 20th. During her visit, she spoke on the importance of organizations and especially governments to make their data available to the public. She also toured @ilab Africa.

Dr. Anstey is very passionate about governments, and other public institutions opening up their data to the public for various reasons. Opening up data to the public means that communities can participate in coming up with solutions to various problems since nobody has monopoly of ideas. Sharing data also creates buy-in with communities and this is essential for development as meaningful development cannot be achieved without community participation.

However she acknowledged that opening up is not easy and is in fact frightening because it means letting go of control and shifting the balance of power. She gave the example of the World Bank which came up with a Freedom of Information policy in 2007, and adopted Open Data in 2010.

Dr. Anstey said that staff at the bank were at first afraid their mistakes would be known but the experience has been liberating. She said resistance to opening up can come in many forms.

In the World Bank for example, some departments used to collect data and sell it and were afraid they would now lose their income streams. Others she said were nervous that competing organizations will use their data, while others cited intellectual property principles to oppose Open data initiatives. She reiterated that data is a global common good that should be accessed by all.

Dr. Anstey was accompanied by the World Bank Country Director in Kenya Mr. Johannes Zutt. Others who spoke at the event included the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the CEO of Kenya ICT Board Mr. Paul Kukubo, the Director of @ilabAfrica Dr. Joseph Sevilla, and Ms Jessica Colaco from iHub. The session was moderated by Linus Gitahi of Nation Media Group.

Access to data especially from businesses is one of the biggest hurdles facing research institutions in Kenya today. Business organizations are reluctant to share even information that should be in public domain.  

Answering a question from the media, Dr. Anstey said the World Bank has funded innovative application programs in the world to the tune of US$ 2 Billion. These include applications in the health, agriculture and education sectors. She said Open data will help the bank monitor and evaluate the way any funds given out are used.

She said one of the policies of the World Bank is to lend to countries that have transparent budgets. She lauded Kenya for being one of the only six countries to commit to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a global initiative to make governments more transparent, effective and accountable.  

Kenya is the first sub-Saharan nation to have the government and the public share data openly. Dr. Ndemo said this was a key step to the use of ICTs as data is an important part of innovation. When data is available, innovators can analyze data and create solutions to the arising problems.

Dan Ogola

Daniel Ogola, the Founder and Executive Director of Matibabu Foundation, an initiative that provides health support services in Siaya County, Nyanza Province will be featured on CNN’s Next List program at 2:00 pm (EST)/ 11:00 am (Pacific Time) on Sunday, March 4^th 2012.

Daniel is a third year Bachelor of Commerce student. He says that the knowledge he has acquired has enabled him to manage Matibabu better. Matibabu has trained community health workers, and runs routine medical clinics.

Matibabu distributes Anti-Retro Viral (ARV) drugs to over 3000 people to create a healthy, productive and prosperous society. Matibabu brings in 60-100 medical doctors to the community every year, and funding from JSI.

Dan has blazed a trail. Using talent and education as his tools, he has launched new businesses, created jobs and inspired a generation to improve their lives by taking better care of their physical health.

Raised in Nairobi’s Kibera slums, Dan witnessed the connection between poor health and hopelessness from an early age. Dr Hernando Garzon, Director of Global Health services for California’s Kaiser Permanente, sees it as well.

“We learned a long time ago that if you have an unhealthy community the potential for economic development is less. So if people are regularly out sick and children are missing school because of illness, the chances for economic development and prosperity are less,” Dr Garzon said.

As founder and director of The Matibabu Foundation, an indigenous health and education initiative serving some 60,000 Kenyans, Dan’s ability to recognize the talent often overlooked in poor communities has led to an economic boom in his hometown.

But for this agent of change, success is about more than money. “I want to communicate the health situation of my people with anybody,” Ogola told The Next List. “It’s something that I love to do, so I don’t need to force myself to see it. Anytime I meet you, I want to share with you. I’m Dan Ogola. I come from this community. And I don’t say it shyly. I say it with a lot of vigor, because I love my community. We are just trying to make a difference in our own community. Our goodwill is what makes Matibabu truly unique,” he added.

Watch Dan on CNN’s Next List on Sunday, March 4th at 2pm Eastern Time (New York), and 11am Pacific Time (Los Angeles)

See the link for The Next List blog here: http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-next-list/

Watch other clips of Matibabu here:

1. Grand Opening of the Module 1- http://tibafoundation.org/blog/2012/02/01/grand-opening-of-the-hospital/
2. Matibabu on ABC - http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7414914&syndicate=syndicate&section
3. Matibabu Foundation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp-0noCm8_I
4. Experience on Trainings - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWvi1FVEQ4Y&feature=related
5. Improving service delivery and community outreach - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq2L5dx0Lfc&feature=related
6. Building stronger systems - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZEX2LGgUQ&feature=related
7. Our community health workers - http://vimeo.com/12249845

The new law school

The idea of a Law School at Strathmore has been in the air for a while now. After studying the legal profession in Kenya and consulting with various stakeholders, the University saw the need to address some of the challenges facing legal education in Kenya and East Africa. The University consequently developed a curriculum based on the study and the consultations it had done.

The proposed Strathmore Law School (SLS) curriculum was then presented to key stakeholders in the Kenyan legal fraternity at a forum in 2009 and their feedback included in the final revision. Since then, the University has been engaging prospective law lecturers as well as investing in the post graduate education of several young scholars who will form part of the school’s faculty (teaching and research staff).

The SLS curriculum is designed to provide students with an integrated legal education that merges core subjects in legal theory and practice with courses on ethics and other humanities. The faculty is carefully selected to ensure a combination of local, regional and international expertise in legal scholarship and practice.

SLS is committed to providing each student with the critical, analytical and practical skills necessary to help attaining the school’s motto of achieving legal excellence in the quest for justice.

SLS is now a reality and it will admit its inaugural Bachelor of Laws (LLB) class between March and May 2012. Classes will commence in July 2012.

For more information click see the SLS website: http://www.strathmore.edu/sls/  

Download SLS brochure here.

Students fill the computer lab at Nairobi’s Strathmore University.

Young Kenyans with code-writing and engineering chops are playing growing roles in providing IT infrastructure for health and other applications.  Riyaz Bachani, CTO of the fast-growing Kenyan ISP Wananchi, said: “Having grown through the system here and been exposed to the developing world, we actually see no reason why these things can’t be built—even at a better level, and a better scale—locally.”

Limited lifeline: Zuhura Hussein, who does outreach in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, has the names of many TB sufferers and HIV-positive clients on her phone but no technology to track them

Erick Njenga, a 21-year-old college senior wrapping up his business IT degree at Nairobi’s Strathmore University, has a gap-toothed grin and a scraggly goatee. A mild-mannered son of auditors, he didn’t say much as we tucked into a lunch of grilled steak, rice, and fruit juice at an outdoor café amid the din of the city’s awful traffic. But his code had done the talking. Last year Njenga and three classmates developed a program that will let thousands of Kenyan health workers use mobile phones to report and track the spread of diseases in real time—and they’d done it for a tiny fraction of what the government had been on the verge of paying for such an application. Their success—and that of others in the nation’s fast-growing startup scene—demonstrates the emergence of a tech-savvy generation able to address Kenya’s public-health problems in ways that donors, nongovernmental organizations, and multinational companies alone cannot.

Njenga was humble about the project, but the problem he had tackled was critical in a nation where one in 25 is HIV-positive (10 times the U.S. rate) and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are among the leading killers. In 2010, the Kenyan government realized it had to do something about its chaotic system for tracking infectious diseases in order to improve the response to outbreaks and report cases to the World Health Organization. Handwritten reports and text messages describing deaths and new cases of disease would stream in from more than 5,000 clinics around the nation and pivot through more than 100 district offices before being manually entered into a database in Nairobi. The health ministry wanted to let community health workers put information into the database directly from mobile phones, which are ubiquitous in Kenya. The ministry initially sought a solution the usual way: it explored hiring a multinational contractor. It drafted a contract with the Netherlands office of Bharti Airtel, the Indian telecommunications giant that also operates a mobile network in Kenya. The company proposed spending tens of thousands of dollars on mobile phones and SIM cards for the data-gathering task, and it said it would need another $300,000 to develop the data application on the phones. The total package ran to $1.9 million.

The contract was never signed; Kenya’s attorney general stopped the deal over questions about its reliance on one mobile carrier. A few years ago, there wouldn’t have been any options within the country. But Kenya’s director of public health made an urgent call to Gerald Macharia, the East Africa director for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a wing of the foundation started by former president Bill Clinton. Macharia then called an instructor at Strathmore, who quickly rounded up the four students. They spent the spring of 2011 at the CHAI offices, receiving internship pay of about $150 a month. They sat for days with the staff in the health ministry to understand the traditional way of gathering information. Then they pounded out the app and polished up the database software to allow disease reporting from any mobile Web interface. By last summer their “Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response” system was up and running at the ministry, obviating much of Bharti Airtel’s proposed costs. The process was “rough—but not too bad,” Njenga says. “There were some nights we worked until 2 a.m.” He and his colleagues are now finishing an SMS version so that health workers without Web access can make reports via text message from mobile phones of any make or model. The students are also working on another key problem: coming up with ways for the health ministry to track pharmaceuticals it ships to the government’s hospitals and clinics, to avoid shortages or waste.

Mobile phones are lifelines for Kenyans. Some 26 million of the nation’s 41 million people have phones, and 18 million use them to do their everyday banking and conduct other business; most use a service called M-Pesa, which is offered by the country’s dominant wireless provider, Safaricom. If mobile phones could play as big a role in Kenyan health care as they do in Kenyan financial transactions, the effects could be profound. A growing body of research worldwide is showing that beyond disease surveillance, mobile phones can improve public health by connecting people with doctors for the first time, reminding people to take medications or bring children in for vaccinations, and even enabling doctors in remote areas to view, update, and manage crucial clinical records.

Still, there are big gaps between the promise of mobile health technologies, or “m-health,” and their actual implementation. According to the mHealth Alliance, a Washington-based group, 45 mobile health projects are active or have already been completed in Kenya alone—more than in any other country. Most have been devised and paid for by philanthropies, aid agencies, and NGOs. The projects vary widely: one delivers money via M-Pesa to pay for repair of fistulas, a damaging complication of childbirth; another verifies the authenticity of drugs when workers text their serial numbers. Some have had substantial impact. But most are limited in scope and time frame. And there’s often no business model for sustaining them when the funding runs out, leaving the field suffering from a bad case of “pilotitis,” says Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance. “The space is incredibly fragmented, unfortunately,” she says. “You have a lot of bits and pieces coming from different angles and lots of pilots going on.”

Meanwhile, IT contracts for government websites, electronic registries, and other large projects are typically conceived by NGOs or donors and carried out by contractors who may be remote from the specific needs of workers at the front lines. “You have people thinking at 30,000 feet: ‘Let’s do websites for every government ministry,’” Jackson Hungu, CHAI’s country director, told me over dinner in Nairobi. That’s good, he says, but it may not meet the needs on the ground: “Have we gone to that pharmacist and asked, ‘Look, what do you do? You are the one who meets the patient and feels the pain.‘ Have we understood it thoroughly from that guy’s point of view? Or are we building something so donors can say, ‘Oh, we are online’?” Successful national technology strategies, he argues, require people like the Strathmore students, who have the code-writing chops, can readily work with the people who need to use the technology, and are likely to remain in Kenya to sustain the effort.

]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/22/kenyas-startup-boom/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/20/alumni-hold-2nd-reunion-in-kisumu/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/20/alumni-hold-2nd-reunion-in-kisumu/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:45:00 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1434

Some of the attendees at the Kisumu reunion

The 2nd alumni reunion at the lake-side city of Kisumu was held on Saturday, February 18^th, 2012 at the Kisumu Hotel. The theme for the reunion was “STRATHMORE 50 YEARS, WHAT NEXT?” Mr. Luis Borrallo, the University’s Director of the Advancement and External Affairs was the chief speaker.

Mr. Borrallo explained the various projects that University had initiated. Mr. Justus Wanga, a lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology emphasized the importance of alumni supporting the University.

The Dean of Students Mr. Paul Ochieng was also in attendance. He took the opportunity to inform the guests about various sports and other extra-curricular activities that students were involved in at the University.

The alumni office (SALO) supports various alumni groups organize such events. The groups are based on location like the ones in Kisumu, Meru and Mombasa. Others are based on professional interests like the Alumni Entrepreneurs Network.

These groups are important for networking among alumni who can belong to more than one group. The groups are guided by the saying: “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success!”

The Master of Ceremony for the event was Mr. David Ndolo an alumnus and Chairman of the organizing committee. ]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/20/alumni-hold-2nd-reunion-in-kisumu/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/10/sbs-to-facilitate-agribusiness-management/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/02/10/sbs-to-facilitate-agribusiness-management/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:21:19 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1419

A state-of-the-art biogas plant in the Netherlands. SBS plans to bring in world class management practices to the regional agricultural sector.

Strathmore Business School (SBS) is set to start training in Agribusiness Management and research. Agriculture is the top foreign exchange earner for Kenya.  The sector is however marred by mismanagement and the use of obsolete techniques.

Kenya and the East African region at large have the potential to be self sufficient in food for example. With proper planning, famine can be eradicated regardless of the prevailing weather conditions.

SBS hopes to drive agricultural productivity to the levels of Israel, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil by conducting extensive research in various sub-sectors such as leather, indigenous foods, and horticulture.

This research will encompass the best practices across the entire value chain and will benchmark with global leaders in each sub-sector. The research will then be made available to government agencies, NGOs, corporations and entrepreneurs driving the various sub-sectors.

Dissemination of this information will be through caucuses, workshops, conferences and executive programs. The first of the executive programs will be held on Feb 20th- 24th 2012. 

The program will be facilitated by experts from Argentina. The theme of the program is Managing Agribusiness Programs.

The experts are Dr Raquel Sastre (University of Buenos Aires), Prof Juan Rusinek (National University of Asunción) and Dr Robert Bisang (Economic Commission from Latin American and Caribbean).

The program will consist of class sessions, guest speaker sessions and panel sessions from policy makers and accomplished entrepreneurs and executives. Participants will also have the privilege of interacting with investors from Malaga, the agribusiness hub of Spain. The investors are seeking to direct investments into sustainable business undertakings in the regional agro-industry.

For more information about the agribusiness research and the Managing Agribusiness Program, please Click Here or write to Patrick Ndungu: pndungu@strathmore.edu

Tess Bowman with Eva Mutete and other COP members at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison

Tess ‘Zawadi’ Bowman, a native of California is interning with Strathmore’s Community Outreach Program (COP). Her assignment on the fourth day of internship was COP’s visit to Naivasha Maximum Security Prison on Saturday, January 21st. She relates her experience here.

“Twenty-four hours, four cranberry juices, a few conversations with strangers, and two stops in Dallas and London later, I found myself a long way from California. My slightly travel-worn spirits were quickly revived upon arrival when I was greeted by ten smiling Strathmore students and staff at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

I had finally made it to Nairobi, and the next day I would head to the Community Outreach Program (COP) office to meet my new co-workers.

The welcome I have received at Strathmore thus far has been so warm that it seems it cannot be only six days since I arrived. Although I had been here for just three days, I was fortunate enough to travel with the COP family to Naivasha Maximum Security Prison this past Saturday. What an introduction to Kenya!

Continuing the support Strathmore has provided to the prison, COP brought hundreds of desks and chairs to the secondary school they have established there for inmates. This was only half the mission however; a highly anticipated soccer match between the inmates’ team and COP’s very own, COP FC, was also scheduled.

Some enthusiastic COP gentlemen had the early morning task of loading the lorry before departure. In two Strathmore buses nearly overflowing with energized students and staff, we finally embarked for Naivasha around 11:00 AM.

We arrived just before 1:00 PM. Word came that the lorry broke down, but it followed not far behind, arriving just before 2:00 PM. There were several measures to be taken before we were allowed to enter, it being a maximum security prison.

All jewelry was removed and men and women were separated in to two lines. Men were finger-printed and then we were all led past the first and second impressive barriers. Inside, over 1,000 inmates lined the large dirt soccer field already eagerly awaiting the match.

The warden and chaplain briefly showed us the school. As a newcomer to Strathmore and COP, I was deeply struck as the chaplain talked about the students’ progress, and the generous contributions Strathmore had made toward that end. ]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/01/24/cop-takes-intern-to-naivasha-prison/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/01/10/su-alumni-who-joined-pwc-in-2011/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/01/10/su-alumni-who-joined-pwc-in-2011/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:03:01 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1398

Chris Mbithi, Fidelis Wambua, Irene Maani, Rebecca Mahinda and Susan Omache

A number of Strathmore University alumni joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2011. PwC is one of the leading professional accounting firms specializing in providing Audit & Assurance, Advisory and Tax services. Some of the alumni shared their thoughts on SU.

Alumnus Christopher Mbithi King’oo graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Accounting major. He joined PwC as an Audit Associate.

“I owe a lot to SU. All that I have done and all I hope to do was nurtured at the university. Given a second chance, I would join SU to take advantage of the many opportunities available to grow,” Chris said.

Chris added: Most my colleagues at work are exceptionally talented professionals, but if they had an opportunity to be in Strathmore, I guess they would be a step ahead. VIVA STRATHMORE!

Irene Maani graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce, Finance Major. She joined PwC Advisory, Human Capital.  Irene said: Being in PwC has been life changing thus far and I cannot wait to learn to grow more with them.

“At SU, I was equipped with both technical and life skills that helped me stand out in the race for this job. Many thanks to my lecturers, mentors and the Placement Office for equipping us with great intellectual and interview skills,” she added.

Rebecca Mahinda is taking ACCA at the University. She is a graduate of the University of Nairobi, where she studied BSc. in Food Science and Technology. She is also an employee of PwC.

“Studying accounting at Strathmore gave me the confidence to believe in myself and launch a career in auditing and assurance. The abundance of resources on offer here continues to amaze me! Strathmore University is the place to begin your future in the corporate world,” she said.

“Getting the opportunity to work in PwC has been life changing and I am looking forward to learning and growing with them. I owe much to Strathmore University,” said alumna Susan Omache.

“Many thanks to my ACCA lecturers who put in so much effort to develop me to be the best I could get. With such dedication from the lecturers and staff at large, I am sure that Strathmore University will continue producing very good students who are well-rounded,” Susan added. ]]> http://strathmorefoundation.org/2012/01/10/su-alumni-who-joined-pwc-in-2011/feed/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2011/12/14/laughter-is-the-best-medicine/ http://strathmorefoundation.org/2011/12/14/laughter-is-the-best-medicine/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:32:55 +0000 Strathmore University Foundation http://strathmorefoundation.org/?p=1330

Mother and child

Serena Williams is welcomed by students

@ilab Africa research institute’s project ‘Use of ICT in Enhancing Teaching and Curriculum Delivery in Marginalized Secondary Schools in Kenya‘ is the 2011 winner of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Outreach and Community Relations award!

The main aim of the project is to partner with secondary schools in marginal areas of Kenya in order to develop and support the delivery of Computer Studies offered as part of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Examination (KCSE) curriculum.

In May 2009, the project received a $100,000 from the HP Innovations in Education Grant, and an additional $15,000 from the Internet Society (www.isoc.org). In its second year, the project also received funding and support from Google ($20,000), and Safaricom Kenya ($4,000).

The project involves five schools located in marginal areas in or around Nairobi. The schools were Moi Girls Secondary School - Isinya, and Olkejuado High School in Kajiado County; Machakos Girls High School in Machakos County; and Gatanga High School, Kahuhia Girls High School in Muranga County.

High school students taking Computer Studies are expected to learn and develop practical ICT skills. In the final year of study, the students are expected to develop a complete software project using a recommended set of tools and programming languages.

However, schools in marginal areas have limited, outdated or non- existent ICT infrastructure; inadequate teaching capacity, and constrained financial resources. In addition, these schools are also located in areas of low economic activity with attendant socio-economic challenges including the discrimination of the girl-child.

The project team comprised of five lecturers and 20 IT undergraduate students from the Faculty of Information Technology. In February 2010, then world number one tennis player and HP Goodwill Ambassador Serena Williams visited the University to meet members of the project team. 

Undergraduate students have made more than 60 visits to the schools to mentor and support Computer Studies pupils. Among other activities, the students assist in programming project supervision and encourage the girls to take up computer studies as their future careers.

Lecturers visit to schools to give motivational talks to the high school students. Under the project, about 60 Computer Studies teachers and school administrators attended a National Computer Studies Teachers Conference at the University in November 2010.

The Rural Cafe project, an offline web access tool for use in schools without internet access was installed in the 5 participating schools with very impressive results. The project was a joint effort with Prof Jay Chen of New York University.

The tool has 300GB of Computer Science Education Resources crawled from the Internet. For more details, see: http://code.google.com/p/ruralcafe/wiki/Introduction.

In January 2010, over 200 high school students participated in an Open Day event at the university under the project. The aim of the event was to create interest in Computer Science among the students, especially girls.

The University entered the project in the ACU PR, Marketing and Communications Awards 2011 competition. The judges were pleased with the project’s overall strength and clear focus on student outreach.

They also said it had innovative and successful third party engagement and direct use of student volunteers. It also made use of supporting events and activities like open days, school visits, and use of HP equipment and ambassadors.

Congratulating the University on winning the award, Ms Dorothy Garland, ACU’s Director of Professional Networks said the University won in a particularly strong category of the competition.

Mr. Stanley Kamau the Alumni Relations Manager (left) and Mr. Oscar Kimani, the MC of the evening at the event.

Strathmore Alumni Entrepreneurs Network (SAEN) was launched on Friday, December 2^nd at the Sarova Panafric Hotel. Not even the impossible traffic on a raining Friday evening in Nairobi could stop the alumni who turned up in impressive numbers.

Alumnus Oscar Kimani who is known as the “Entrepreneurship evangelist”, and founder of UniqueAfrica was the MC of the evening. Others in attendance included young alumni who have just set up their new businesses such as Solana Creation, an initiative of Njeri Kanyara and Viona Wamuyu. Solana Creation is an events organizing company.

The guest speakers were Harry Karanja, founder of Genius Executives an enterprise set on making business simple; Benson Maina, the CEO of Rupu Kenya which is among the largest modern day advertising platforms in Kenya and Nick Munyao of Genius Executives.

It was very humbling and motivating to hear how they started their businesses. They expressed passion which was very inspiring considering the day-to-day challenges of running a business. The evening culminated with the cutting of a cake to mark the launch.

The launch of the network is in line with the University’s vision which is to become a leading out-come driven entrepreneurial research university translating its excellence into a major contribution to culture, economic well-being, and quality of life.