Grace Sang’, Equity Leaders Programme scholar, receives a congratulatory letter from Dr James Mwangi, Equity Group Foundation executive chairman, during the commissioning of scholars who will be joining top global universities /FILE
whole new world is waiting abroad. For others, a new world awaits closer home. Both groups will finally access university lecture halls with students from different backgrounds, cultures and privileges.
For Dr James Mwangi, the managing director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings and executive chairman of Equity Group Foundation (EGF), education is not simply a philanthropic cause, it is that equaliser of a whole new world that he envisioned since 1998 for such brilliant minds from vulnerable places to experience.
Education for him is deeply personal. A man passionate about education, he can spend hours speaking with and mentoring scholars, challenging them to think beyond the circumstances in which they were raised.
His initiatives, EGF’s Wings to Fly and Elimu Scholarship Programme supports secondary school education in Kenya, while the Equity Leaders Programme (ELP)supports undergraduate university education.
EGF currently supports more 11,663 active high school scholars and has expanded global university opportunities with 121 new global university admissions in 2026, valued at Sh3,021,504,435.
A total of 86 scholars from Kenya, four from Uganda, 29 from Rwanda and two from the DRC, have secured undergraduate admission to 63 universities in 16 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia and North America, of which 20 secured admissions to Ivy League universities.
Transitioning from secondary school, scholars who score highly in Kenya, at least an A plain or A minus, and highly in the other African countries where Equity is present, have the opportunity to qualify for the ELP.
To date, EGF under the Wings to Fly scholarship program and the Elimu Scholarship Programme has benefited 60,009 scholars. The ELP has also surpassed 10,505 cumulative paid internships, strengthening Africa’s future leadership and workforce pipeline.
The number of scholars currently accessing global universities hasreached 1,236 while those who have transitioned to public universities are more than 35,300 scholars across Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC.
To date, more than 4,039 youth in Kenya and the DRC have benefited from the Wings to Fly Tvet Scholarship Programme, with 33 per cent pursuing IT and 31 per cent science and engineering, alongside agriculture, hospitality, business and other fields.
In many ways, the ELP represents a continuation of the transformative vision behind the Tom Mboya Airlift, which enabled about 750 Kenyan students to pursue higher education abroad in the 1950s and 1960s.
With more than 1,200 scholars having secured admission to leading universities globally, ELP has taken that legacy to a significantly larger scale, making it one of Africa’s most consequential private-sector-led education and leadership initiatives.
Aime Iradukunda, an ELP scholar from Uganda and former Royal Giant High School student, is among this year’s beneficiaries. “I applied to about 14 universities before receiving my admission to Harvard College.
When the acceptance letter came, I was in complete disbelief,” Aime says. The top-performing male student in Mityana District, Aime scored 20 points in the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education. He will pursue electrical engineering and economics.
Mentors, many of them former or current scholarship beneficiaries, play a critical role in inspiring others to pursue opportunities they once thought were beyond reach. Grace Sang’, an ELP scholar and former Alliance Girls High School student, recalls how hearing alumni stories in Form 2 inspired her to dream of joining their ranks.
“Sometimes, all it takes is seeing someone else’s journey to believe your own is possible,” she says, crediting the Equity College Counseling Programme with giving her the confidence and support to pursue her ambitions. After scoring an A plain in last year’s KCSE, Grace heads to pursue computer science at New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Equity Global Scholars board member David Kimani and Equity College Counselling Program Study Group leader Brian Otieno are walking the ELP path. Kimani, a first-year biology student specialising in Neuroscience at Williams College, USA, reminds scholars that the ELP is more than a scholarship, it is a lifelong network of leaders and changemakers expected to return home, transform communities and expand opportunities for others.
Otieno, a fourth-year medicine student at Selçuk University, Türkiye, urges scholars to dream boldly, prepare intentionally and embrace mentorship and peer support, noting that global success is rarely a solo journey.
Equity further supports its scholars through regular mentorship, including the very recent 17th Education and Leadership Congress, which brought together 4,949 secondary school scholars to Dadaab, Kakuma and Nairobi for leadership, life-skills and career-readiness training.
Having attended the leadership congress, Wilkister Mueni, a 2023 Wings to Fly scholar from Matuu HGM Memorial Girls Senior School, says the experience has broadened her leadership skills and life outlook.
“I was raised by a single mum. My mum had almost no means, and sometimes we would live in the streets,” Wilkister says. Through Wings to Fly, she receives full school support and mentorship, which she says has inspired her to “dream big” and pursue studies abroad. She hopes to become a data scientist in banking, aspiring to be the next Equity boss Mwangi, while inspiring vulnerable youth through podcasts.
Another beneficiary, from Kibera, Lewis Onsongo, at the leadership congress, was particularly inspired by the take-home message from the German Ambassador Sebastian Groth on the importance of curiosity, perseverance and trust.
From Kibera to Kisii School, Lewis, the son of a security guard and a housewife, believes that opportunity and determination can change life.
Lewis is also inspired by Equity Group's growth and international reach. “Equity’s international status inspires me to become a person who pursues things internationally,” he says. “I hope to pursue civil engineering abroad under ELP and bring back home the skills I achieve to inspire other youth from Kibera to Kenya at large.”
Mwangi has championed a broader vision, that scholarships should create a multiplier effect, with beneficiaries using their education and success to uplift their families, inspire future generations and expand possibilities beyond their own achievements.
Equity Afya illustrates education’s multiplier effect. Through its network of affordable healthcare centres, qualified doctors, some of them ELP alumni, have returned to serve communities by working in the health centres.
EGF’s education vision has further been strengthened by strategic partnerships with organisations including Kenya’s Ministry of Education, the European Union, the World Bank, KfW- German Development Bank and Mastercard Foundation. Their support has expanded scholarships, skills development, mentorship and access to opportunities.
EGF further directly advances SDG 4 Quality Education and SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities. Notably, many students selected for these scholarships also escape severe multidimensional poverty, facing other simultaneous deprivations in health, basic infrastructure and schooling.
According to the latest UNDP global index, 25.4 per cent of Kenya’s population still remains multidimensionally poor.
Prospective beneficiaries of any EGF scholarships are encouraged to follow official scholarship announcements and apply within the stipulated periods. EGF scholarships provide comprehensive financial support through partnerships, prioritising young people from vulnerable communities and refugees.
“The future of a country is in its people and education opens doors to knowledge, networks and opportunities once beyond reach,” Mwangi says.
For Africa, the real return comes when scholars return as doctors, engineers, researchers, artisans, entrepreneurs and technology leaders, lifting families, communities and the next generation with them.
With Africa’s young population growing rapidly, initiatives such as the EGF education pillar and Equity’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan show that investing in young people is building the human capital Africa needs to become more resilient, competitive and self-reliant.
