KCB Group HR staff Nancy Kosgey takes the students through a careers talk during the event

By Jerry Abuga

The alumni skills lab provides those who have completed secondary school with an opportunity to meet people they can look up to, who advise them on skills to invest in in order to set themselves apart.

The KCB Foundation held its second annual Alumni Skills Lab at the KCB Leadership Centre, Karen on Saturday, 25 August 2018. The Alumni Skills Lab is a programme to equip students who have benefitted from the KCB high school scholarship programme with relevant market place skills.

More than 100 student beneficiaries who are currently studying at various universities across the country attended the event. The meeting gave them an opportunity to meet mentors to advise them on the skills they need to develop to prepare themselves for the world outside school.

The programme is meant to enable the beneficiaries to forge a path for themselves – either in academia via the courses they choose to study or to create their own jobs and for their peers.

Topics covered during the session were: personal financial management, interview skills, work etiquette and personal leadership.

The Alumni Skills Lab provides those who have completed secondary school with an opportunity to meet people they can look up to, who advise them on skills to invest in as they prepare for work life. They are encouraged to go for graduate trainee opportunities and capitalise on current business opportunities and personal growth.

KCB Foundation provides full secondary education scholarships to academically gifted but disadvantaged students, among them those with visual, hearing and physical disabilities from all counties in the country. The students are also assigned to a mentor, who is a KCB staff from their home branch, for quarterly one-on-one mentorship sessions.

The objective of the Foundation’s scholarship programme is to improve access and quality of education for needy students through the provision of scholarships, with the aim of increasing transition rates between primary and secondary school and increasing the employability rate of the beneficiaries upon clearing their studies.

To date, the KCB Foundation has awarded over 1,500 scholarships, with an annual target of uplifting 240 young bright scholars by paying for their secondary education. In addition, the Foundation has supported 120 students living with disabilities as it continues to enroll an additional 40 every year.

The scholarship programme is implemented at branch/county level through regional business managers.