40 scholars in the Equity African Leaders Program (EALP) have received scholarships to study in world leading universities bringing the total number of EALP scholars studying abroad to 190 under this program.
Rolled out in 1998, EALP is a rigorous internship-based leadership development program which aims to create a community of talented leaders who are capable of solving the world’s most pressing challenges. EALP provides benefiting scholars with paid internship opportunities and a college savings scheme to help finance their studies.
EALP benefits the top performing boy and girl in the high school leaving/university entrance exams in Kenya in every sub county where Equity Bank has a branch and trains scholars through programming activities aimed at developing each scholar in three thematic areas: Academic Vitality, Professional Development, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
The objective is to develop a generation of servant leaders who will think globally; be inspired to fight poverty in the African continent; embrace sustainable development; improve living standards and coexist peacefully as a people while being fully committed to giving back to society.
Universities that have offered scholarships include the University of Arizona, Yale University, University of Toronto, Harvard University, McGill University, Stanford University, Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Brown University, the University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University and London School of Economics.
Others are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, Princeton University, Seoul National University, Smith College, Swarthmore College, University of California Berkley, University of Cape Town, University of Manchester, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pretoria, Williams College, Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Ashesi University in Ghana and EARTH University in Costa Rica.
Speaking at the scholars’ sendoff event, Equity Group Foundation’s (EGF) Chair, Dr. James Mwangi, congratulated the scholars for their achievements. “We are proud to witness another group of students being airlifted to leading world universities after a year’s mentorship among other gifted scholars admitted to this year’s EALP,” he noted.
“The dividend that we are waiting for is nothing else other than your success. And your success is our greatest pride,” he added.
To date, EALP has benefited more than 1965 scholars who have studied or are studying in both local and foreign universities. The scholar’s intern at Equity Bank branches before joining their respective universities and also during universities’ holidays. 103 Wings To Fly scholars from the inaugural class were among the 410 top 2013 KCSE performers in their sub-counties that joined EALP earlier this year.
