The KCB Foundation has launched a student athletic programme that will provide scholarship opportunities to talented athletic students. This is expected to nurture and grow their talent to world-class athletes under the annual KCB Scholars programme.
This is specifically for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with a view of extending it to other sports in the future. As part of the initiative, KCB Foundation selected 50 students talented in athletics to join its 2024 KCB Scholars programme, following athletics trials held at Ndura Sports Complex in Kitale Town.
The move seeks to support the National Student Athletes Programme by working with the Kenya Academy of Sports through the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs as well as the Ministry of Education.
The 2024 class is aligned with the CBC Curriculum; as such, the KCB scholars program aims to contribute to the transformation of talented individuals into world-class athletes, as well as catering for their education and personal development. The students will receive fully paid scholarships to join secondary schools across the country in January 2024, covering the full 4-year secondary education period, as well as athletics coaching at identified centers of excellence.
KCB Foundation will work with TRANSCEND TALENT ACADEMY, to train and nurture the students’ athletic talent as well as KIPRUN, to provide their athletic kits.
KCB Foundation Director Mendi Njonjo said: “In line with the KCB Group’s efforts to develop sporting talent in the country, the KCB Foundation has piloted sporting talent into the annual scholars’ programme commencing with athletics with a view of venturing into other sports in the coming years. Our goal is to increase opportunities for gifted and talented youth who are disadvantaged and would otherwise have dropped out of school for lack of school fees.”
Comprehensively, the KCB scholars program targets 1,000 bright vulnerable students from across the 47 counties in Kenya who sat for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 2023. This includes teen mothers, FGM Champions, gifted and talented students and Persons Living with Disabilities.
The comprehensive KCB scholarship package offers fees payment, support for personal effects and transport, shopping and pocket money stipend, learning materials and assistive devices for students with disability. It also supports school uniforms for students In Forms 1 and 3.
It further offers quarterly one-on-one mentorship sessions with KCB branch staff and an annual holiday mentorship programme, in addition to internship and employment opportunities during and after the university studies.
Launched in 2007, the scholarship programme has so far benefitted 4,675 students, with 2,715 currently in school. With a secondary completion rate of 99% and a university transition rate of 84%, the programme continues to be a flagship KCB Group initiative to address existing challenges that prevent many students from furthering their education.