By Maximilla Wafula
The Kenya Education Fund (KEF) today opened its new headquarter office, in Thika, marking a significant milestone in its mission to provide educational opportunities to underprivileged Kenyan youth.
This expansion aims to enhance KEF’s capacity to support more students who require financial assistance to pursue their education. KEF currently supports 560 high school students and 60 in university.
The new headquarters will serve as a central hub for KEF’s operations, facilitating better coordination and outreach efforts. Since its inception, KEF has been instrumental in providing over 4,000 scholarships and maintaining a 98% transition rate from high school to university, significantly above the national average.
The new headquarters is named Bradley Broader House after one of the founding partners, the late Bradley Broader. The other founding partner, Dominic Muasya, continues to work in the organisation and driving its mission to educate underprivileged high school students.
“We started as two young men supporting students in remote areas. Over the years there have been many lessons including our selection process to ensure we are supporting the deserving students. We also figured out how to equip the students with life skills. This building is about having a permanent address but also a space where students can find us and engage with us,” said Dominic Muasya, KEF Executive Director and co-founding Partner.
“We support students across the whole county and over the years we have seen many of our students rise to leadership positions mainly due to the skills offered in our workshops. So far we have seen a 99% transition to university by KEF students and many have come back to support the organisation either as staff or coming together to educate more students,” he said.
During the opening ceremony the family of Bradley Broader and the US Board joined their Kenyan counterparts.
“We are honoured and privileged to be here and remain committed to continue driving the vision Bradley had.
With this office there is permanence now and it is a symbol of our continued commitment towards supporting these children and ensuring they get a quality education,” said Allison Schlangers. She was joined by two other board members from the US – Rob Norton, Cliff Broder, Brandon Rigoli and Melissa Pedragosa.
One of the key supporters of KEF is Prudence Foundation, an arm of Prudential Insurance, who have partnered with the organisation for 10 years: “The opening of this building is not just a physical expansion. It is a partnership that we in Prudential believe in, we have supported over 400 students in high school and university in the past 10 years. We believe in the legacy that is being set and are honoured to continue partnering with KEF,” said Gwen Kinisu, the CEO, Prudential Kenya.
KEF also receives support from other organisations including KCB Foundation, Rainwater foundation, enchanted fairies as well as individuals.
To date KEF has an alumni over 4,500, the program has grown over the years to not only include scholarships to secondary school but also life skills workshops, post high school workshop (Career Readiness Entrepreneurship Workshop – CREW), a one-year bridge scholarship to university, college or TVETs and teacher workshops. These life skills have been instrumental in ensuring the children get life skills over and above a good education.