The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has today announced that it will invest over Ksh150 million in various social projects mainly targeting marginalized communities.
In a ceremony to award 19 secondary schools and 20 university scholarships to bright but needy students from communities near its installations around the country; KenGen acting MD& CEO Eng. Simon Ngure said that the projects will cover education, health and environment among others and will concentrate on communities in areas where the company has power generation installations.
“We are revamping our social and community interventions and currently transitioning our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to a fully-fledged Foundation,” said Mr. Ngure.
This brings to 284 the number of students who have so far benefited from the programme since it was launched in 2005. KenGen has so far awarded scholarships worth Ksh34.6 million.
The KenGen Education programme is part of KenGen’s wider Corporate Social Investment which has been running for seven years, now being implemented under a newly registered foundation, the KenGen Foundation.
Cabinet Secretary for Energy Hon. Davis Chirchir recognized that KenGen has continued to play a major role in the economy and lauded the scholarship initiative saying it contributes to the country’s human resource development.
“The scholarship programme sponsored by KenGen has had a major impact on marginalized communities particularly in Turkwell and Garissa. Already, the programme has borne fruit considering that some of the beneficiaries have already joined the labor market,” said Mr. Chirchir in a speech read on his behalf by a senior ministry official Mr. Jon Omenge.
The initiative has brought on board students from different parts of the country, including marginalized areas like the conflict-prone north western Kenya.
Google Country Director for Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa Joe Mucheru, who was the key speaker at the ceremony, challenged the students to work hard and should view the globe as their job market.
During the event, Eng. Ngure also revealed that the national power generator will play a lead role in meeting the 5000MW new capacity that the government has set to attain over the next 40 months.