Safaricom has announced five winners of their Shine Kenya Shinda Mamilii Kama Bingwa campaign. The five winners received Ksh. 1 Million each as well as an additional KES 250,000 each to support community-based projects of their choices courtesy of Safaricom Foundation.
Elizabeth Sangale, a farmer and mother from Kabongwa, a small village in Uasin Gishu County, is one of the first lucky winners of the million-shilling draw. For a long time, the mother of three struggled to raise school fees for her children, whom she’ll now be able to send for further studies.
She can now fulfil her daughter’s wishes to study psychology abroad and pay for her two other children to attend college in Kenya to study IT and nursing. She will spend the KES 250,000 community project money from Safaricom to buy uniforms for the less fortunate children in her community.
“It was very unfortunate when my children had to be sent home because we could not afford the school fees for them to further their studies. But with this money, Safaricom has given me, my kids can now pursue their dreams. I want to thank Safaricom as it may not have been possible without them,” said Wangale.
In addition, in support of her husband, who has hearing impairment, she plans to invest some of the money in a disability initiative in her area.
Mary Wambui Chege, a 20-year-old caregiver for the elderly, was sceptical when she first heard she was one of the winners. Her scepticism soon turned to joy when the Safaricom team assured her that she truly was one of the winners of the campaign. Mary, who hails from Gachie, Kiambu County, studied caregiving at college, and now, with her prize money, she can afford to study general nursing, her passion.
“I am excited for our first five millionaires from Shine Kenya: Shinda Mamilii Kama Bingwa. We are so grateful that we can be part of transforming our customers’ lives.
Times have not been easy, and we see how hard Kenyans are trying to make their dreams come true. So, this is our small way to support Kenya and to help them shine,” stated Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom PLC.
The third winner, Mohammed Khalif, a budding entrepreneur and clerical officer, will invest the KES 1 million into his local retail business in El Wak, Mandera County, where he sells food to the community. Mohammed was aware of the campaign and would actively transact with his M-PESA to increase his number of draws and chances to win.
Kamwenga Tsimba, a 23-year-old stay-at-home mother from Mshomoroni, Coast Region, was surprised when she received the news that she had won KES 1 million. Excited about the win, Kamwenga, a wife and mother of one, wants to buy land, build a home and move her family from their rented space.
The fifth winner, Victor Omondi Onyango is a 26-year-old aspiring business owner from Ahero, Kisumu County, completed form four but hasn’t been able to get a job since. Victor currently lives with his parents and wishes to use his winnings to start a business to sustain himself and to pay for his college fees to study to become a P1 teacher.
To participate, customers will need to transact on M-PESA or purchase the Shine Kenya Bundles. For every KES 200 transacted on M-PESA and any Shine Kenya bundle purchase of KES 20 and above, customers will earn an entry into the weekly draw.
Qualifying M-PESA transactions include Send Money (P2P), Lipa na M-PESA, any transaction made through the M-PESA app, My Safaricom app, dialling *444#, *544# or *334#