Admissions & Scholarships Days 


Target:  Form 4 leavers & others

Why an Admissions & Scholarships Day? 
 
To provide information and Case Studies on obtaining Admissions & scholarships to top, overseas universities from successful professional & peer mentors 

This will include in-person discussions and Video Conference discussions with the following regarding their overseas University studies experience and journey to the same. They include, but are not limited to the following AKAD Peer Mentors in person (2020) as well as others online (2021); 
 
  1. Joan Nekoye - Brown University, USA
  2. Yuri Coret - Watson Institute, USA, ALU Mauritius
  3. Boniface Omina - Watson Institute, USA, ALU Mauritius
  4. Eric Ndoria - Cass Business School, London, UK
  5. Martin Okoth Omondi - ALU, Kigali, Rwanda
  6. Brian Ngugi - Jacobs University - German
  7. Eric Fairweather  - Minerva Schools at KGI, USA
  8. Josphat Lowoi - Duke University, USA
  9. Michael Mutie - ALU, Mauritius
  10. Christie Weche - Gap year in U.S.A
  11. Emmanuel Okorwoit - ALU Mauritius

Peer Mentor, Ernest Ochieng of Harvard University, USA  has previously been available for a personalised, "Meet & Greet" Mentorship Conversations sessions in Kenya. 

AKAD mentees wishing to attend and facing financial challenges are always invited to show cause for support to attend. There is therefore NO excuse specifically to those with whom we have ongoing mentorship engagements; Alliance High School, Lenana School, Namasoli Secondary School and other similar schools.  

      


For Full day events, the TImetable to the right is a SAMPLE of engagement. 
              
Photos of our previous event on Facebook Page are available by clicking here

        
Event participants are invited to add more value to themselves by providing  a written essay of their learning at the event, based on AKAD Essay Writing Guidelines, which are available by clicking here        
        


Admissions & Scholarships days are usually part of the GAP Year programs; a non-examinable program with a “Certificate of Participation” branded in collaboration with partners and sponsors. 


This Mentorship training includes but is not limited to;


  1. Formal training by mentors on personal leadership (Goal setting, knowing self, communication skills, critical thinking, time management & career success) over an initial 30 hours contact period, 3 hours per meeting, twice a week. 
  2. Field based Community Development Activities, based on individual passion and interests
  3. University Admission assistance – based on alumni and other peer support
  4. Job shadowing of professionals on location, based on the revealed student interests and passions – in collaboration with available Corporates; Bidco Africa, Kenya Power, Davis & Shirtliff, ILRI, UNON, University of Nairobi, Public Image Inc, etc.
    


Admissions Event Essays
      


2020 Sample Essays
Essay - Admissions & Scholarships 2020.pdf Essay - Admissions & Scholarships 2020.pdf
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2018 Sample Essays
        
      
       

2017 Sample Essays

'My Testimony' Semo Maleche - Jan 2017.pdf 'My Testimony' Semo Maleche - Jan 2017.pdf
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Waweru Mathenge - Akad essay - Jan 2017.pdf Waweru Mathenge - Akad essay - Jan 2017.pdf
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Jessy Karanja - AKAD Essay Jan 2017.pdf Jessy Karanja - AKAD Essay Jan 2017.pdf
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Andrew Njuguna - Essay Jan 2017.pdf Andrew Njuguna - Essay Jan 2017.pdf
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We celebrate these sample youth below, who freely chose to engage with the AKAD mentorship solutions and therafter obtained admissions and scholarships to study in top, world class unviersities. 

Some of these stories are captured in our Mentorship Success Journeys book, whose introduction is below


                 

Ernest Ochieng - Harvard University, USA

George Gathiani - Washington University in St. Louis, USA

Josphat Lowoi - Duke University, USA

Catherine Njeri - ALU, Mauritius

          

Brian Ngugi - ALA & Jacobs University, Germany

Nyamawih Charo - University of Bath, UK

       
   Eric Fairweather - Minerva Schools, USA 

 Joan Nekoye - Brown University, USA

Lennox Owino - University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
 Michael Mutie - ALU, Mauritius 
         


          
                  
         
        
                                   
                           
        

Resource Persons  

         

Eric Ndoria 

Eric is a student actuary currently working at the Insurance Regulatory Authority in Kenya. He loves using mathematics/science to solve real world problems. Actuarial science was therefore a very natural choice for him. 

Eric is a graduate of JKUAT, Main Campus with a BSc Actuarial Science degree and the Cass Business School, at City, University of London with an MSc Actuarial Management degree. For his Masters studies, he obtained a 100% scholarship from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (worth about $50,000), a scholarship program that awards 5-8 students each year. Through his actuarial knowledge and skills, he is able to understand the true underlying elements that affect the stability and security of the financial system.

Eric has made good progress with his actuarial professional qualification, having obtained passes/exemptions for 14 out of 15 professional exams under the UK's Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. On qualifying, Eric will be among the less than 60 qualified actuaries in East Africa. He also has a keen interest in programming. During his Masters studies, he started pursuing Machine Learning, seeking to discover how this can be applied in unlocking new opportunities within financial services.

During his studies, Eric also served in various leadership roles. As an undergraduate at JKUAT, he served in the executive committees of both the Jomo Kenyatta University Actuarial Students' Association and the Actuarial Students' Society of Kenya. In addition, as a Masters Student at Cass Business School, he served in the executive committee of the Actuarial, Insurance, Risk and Quants Society. While serving in these roles, he took part in organising various initiatives geared at equipping students with the skills and knowledge needed to successfully transition to working life. These events include Insurtech/Fintech Forums, Quants workshops, exam technique training and career guidance sessions.

Eric has had the opportunity of working in various capacities within the financial services space, including banking and insurance. In banking he worked in administration and operations, while in insurance he worked in claims and actuarial. Through these experiences, he was able to appreciate both the client facing and back office aspects of business. He is currently working at the Insurance Regulatory Authority in Life Insurance Supervision. In this capacity, he is able to understand the overall market dynamics of the insurance sector and the importance of regulation in developing the financial services industry.

He appreciates the importance of:

  • ·         Putting the end customer at the center of all work,
  • ·         Innnovation and teamwork in driving successful projects,
  • ·         Effective communication among all stakeholders,
  • ·         Making informed, high quality decisions in a timely manner,
  • ·         Continuous learning to stay up to date with market developments.

Eric ultimate goal is to apply his expertise in fostering a more inclusive financial system in Africa that better reflects the continent’s way of life. Through this, millions of Africans will be able to make use of more relevant financial products and services, thereby raising themselves out of poverty.

In addition to the above, Eric is passionate about sports, especially tennis, which he plays regularly.

Email: ericndoria@gmail.com

LinkedIn: Eric Ndoria

             

Joan Nekoye


Joan has been admitted to Brown University, a private Ivy league research university in Providence, Rhode Island, USA; founded in the year 1764. Joan will be pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Psychology.


Joan scored an “A” in the 2018 KCSE national examinations, becoming the best student in Western Kenya and among the best nationally in Kenya. She obtained admission to the University of Nairobi to study medicine, as well as being offered a full scholarship to study Computer Science and Informatics at Strathmore University. 


Joan is an associate and a scholar of the Equity Group Foundation where she mentors “Wings To Fly” scholars and was an intern with Equity Leadership Program serving as a Customer Relationship Officer for Equity Bank Limited, Ongata Rongai Branch. 


Joan is an AKAD Peer Mentor, having joined the AKAD Education Group - Africa as a high school, form 2 mentee at Booker Academy, through the “Mentoring Future Leaders” program with Dr. Vimal Shah and BIDCO Africa Ltd. Mentorship solutions included the “Media Mentorship” with Standard Media Group, through which her AKAD her Peer Mentor is Josphat Lowoi, currently at Duke University, USA; a private research university in Durham, North Carolina, USA founded in year 1838.


Within her Gap Year, Joan has been helping high school students understand the process of pursuing education abroad by offering SAT and ACT training and the College Application process. She is also a part-time tutor in Math and Sciences for students preparing for KCSE examinations.


Within her free time, she advocates for social justice- a topic she has grown to be passionate about- by spreading awareness and highlighting gender equality, mental health, student depression among others. Joan aspires to establish her own startup, where she hopes to create positive social change.



     
           
            
Boniface B. Omina 


Boniface Omina was admitted on full scholarship to the African Leadership University (ALU) in Mauritius, and is an alumnus of the Watson Institute in Colorado-USA and founder of Student Vortex- Kenya. 

The Student Vortex creates opportunities for college/ university students in Kenya to gain work experience and career exposure, primarily through a match-making internship platform. They take an unconventional approach to job creation through facilitating practical interactions between students and potential employers through hackathons and design sprints. Boniface also co-founded O.K Fashion, a fashion brand that recycles textile waste from other apparel brands and local freelance tailors and re-purposes them into new products i.e. bowties and pocket squares.He has received admission to the African Leadership University- Rwanda, Class of 2024.

During his gap year 2019, Boniface was selected to undertake a fully-sponsored entrepreneurship program at Strathmore Business School under the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation. This four-month program was concluded by a demo day where he and his team successfully pitched an online solution for university students in Kenya. The solution, now Student Vortex, won a seed-fund of Ksh.200, 000. Boniface went on to incubate his start-up at the Watson Institute Incubator Program in Boulder, Colorado. This opportunity built his capacity as a social and techpreneuras well as building on critical skill areas such funding strategies for startups, investor negotiation, pitching and event management. The Vortex has so far worked with start-ups from over five different countries, engineering tailored solutions for their internal challenges and designing internship programs for their interns.

As brand ambassador of AKAD Africa, a mentorship organization in Kenya, Omina has represented the organizationon various platforms such as KBC TV, Radio and The Standard Newspaper. Boniface represented AKAD on K24TV speaking on the implementation of the 2-6-6-3 education system in Kenya. He has also given various talks under the AKAD umbrella at Precious Blood Riruta, Makini School and the African International University.

Boniface is currently focused on building his start-up venture, Student Vortex.With a newfound love for community and collaboration in the innovation space, he aims to support the start-up community in Nairobi and build up a culture of an unconventional approach to employment in the Kenyan economy.

       


Martin Okoth Omondi


Martin Okoth Omondi is an Alum of the Aga Khan High School, Nairobi and was a student at the The African Leadership University, Rwanda Campus, pursuing an Undergraduate Degree in Entrepreneurship.  

Martin is the President and founder of the Youth Aware Initiative , a non-profit initiative that offers mentorship as well as both life skills and soft skills training to young people and through which he has engaged over 3.000 people from different backgrounds He also initiated the Equip Me program, where he designed a curriculum to train young adults in soft skills needed in the job market but not directly offered in school

Martin is an AKAD Education Group, Africa associate and has been able to use the skills that he has mastered over time to empower young people in his community by being invited to various forums to address young adults. He is also an AKAD Brand Ambassador, representing AKAD at forums such as policy forming meetings by the National Gender and Equality commission society, the National conversation day and The National Prayer Breakfast 2019 and CITAM Embakasi Church (2018).

Martin also serves as a mentor at E.W.E.M.W.A, an organization led by the first lady of the Embakasi West constituency and offers mentorship and other forms of help to the pupils and students and the people at large in the constituency and through which he has addressed over 2000 students, equipping them with practical skills and advice to get up and go get what they want in life.

Martin is also an Young African Leaders Initiative member, an initiative by the former president of the United States, President Barack Obama, to develop effective and ethical African leaders and through which he has acquired skills he has been using in his work and under which he has held successful YALI Learns event in a bid to share the knowledge and skills he has acquired.

Martin also loves music; he particularly loves singing and playing the piano. He also serves in his church band, where he also offers piano lessons to teenagers. He has also used this as an avenue to mentor teenagers by showing them how to capitalize on the various gifts and talents that they have.

Martin aspires to be even more effective in offering youth empowerment opportunities in not only his community but also his country and continent. He would love to shape society by actively shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

Email address: m.omondi@alustudent.com

Facebook profile: Martin Omondi

 LinkedIn Profile: Martin Omondi




Yuri Coret


      
Yuri Coret Profile - January 2020.pdf Yuri Coret Profile - January 2020.pdf
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Eric Fairweather


     
Eric Fairweather - AKAD profile Jan 2020.pdf Eric Fairweather - AKAD profile Jan 2020.pdf
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