The month of May was filled with colour as we celebrated the achievements of many learners.
Sinapis Entrepreneurship Graduation for Blue Economy Entrepreneurs
The Sinapis graduation ceremony was held at Elimu Resource Centre on the 13th of May, with over 75 graduates from all over Kilifi County. After months of intense training and coaching on how to push their businesses to success in the blue economy sector, they graduated with an internationally recognized certification.
This graduation ceremony was one of its kind as the graduands shared their entrepreneurial journey and how the training program had impacted their view of and overall performance in their businesses. When you walked in the room, you saw business profiles on the walls; a representation of the many change makers in Kilifi County.
Our C.E.O,. Kamotho, gave the welcoming speech reminding the entrepreneurs that they are change makers, and honouring them for their courage and leadership.
“We understand that running a successful business in these harsh economic times is tough. But with skills support and mentorship that you are receiving from Sinapis, you can be tougher and you will excel. Yes, you can!”
Also in attendance was the Blue Economy Chief Officer, Ms. Rahab Karisa, and representatives from State Department Youth Affairs.
This graduation marked the success of our partnership with Sinapis in transferring 21 century skills to youth and women.
4th Cisco Graduation
On the 18th of May, we graduated over 60 IT enthusiasts from our Cisco Networking Academy in various certifications including: Get Connected, IT Essentials, Cybersecurity, and Programming.
When you walked in the conference hall, hope, excitement and confidence filled the air. Prior to joining our NetAcad, many of the graduands had never interacted with a computer; coming to Elimu had transformed their minds and worldview. Throughout the three months training, they had unlimited access to coaches and mentors in the Elimu team, they went on a field trip to have a taste of practical use of the skills they learned in the lab. They also engaged in focus group discussions to share their life experiences, struggles and words of wisdom-so that we could learn from them and improve our program.
This was the first graduation ceremony where we had a higher number of female graduates than males. Our Founder Nina Chung was on hand and gave a moving speech about her own experience in the world of sciences, math and technology. She also encouraged the graduates by highlighting many IT leadership positions held by women.
Our chief guest, Faith Kilonzi, further added to this discussion by highlighting the many opportunities that youth in Kenya today can leverage in the tech space. She noted that since technology is fast evolving, young people must keep up with the trends through continuous learning, experimentation, networking and internships. To crown the day, she agreed to mentor the ladies as part of her initiative to groom 1 million girls in ICT by 2030.
At the point of graduation, these young men and women have been empowered all round and are ready to tackle the world with its myriad challenges and surprises. To date, we have graduated 160 youth from our academy and over 20 are continuing with their studies.