Making Dreams Come True Through Scholarships the Barclays Way

Everyone has a dream. A dream of being better tomorrow than they are today. Dream and vision move hand in hand. However, the most difficult thing for dreamers is to actualize the dream.

Someone said that if you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. Provided you are not stagnated but making an effort to move towards a given direction. Unfortunately, many people can’t even crawl, not because they don’t want to but because they have no means to do so.

Many young people from poor families have had their education dreams cut shot just because they cannot afford to pay school fees. Unfortunately, to have access to quality education in Kenya needs money, lots of it and those without money have been left to cry from within, praying and hoping that someone would come their way.

As a person who has gone to school with the help of others, not related to me, I know the power and the joy that comes with scholarships. During my days at Friends School Kamusinga, I could not afford the more than 70,000 shillings per year as school fees. I sailed through with the help of well-wishers, and in my third year, won a scholarship from the Kenyan Consulate in Canada. The Ambassador of Kenya to Canada then, Simon Nabukwesi made that happen.

Was it not for a scholarship, my dream of being a journalist would have been terminated. My university fees, at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, was paid through a scholarship program. After my Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, I got another scholarship to pursue my Master’s Degree at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada.

What I am trying to say here is, scholarships came to help people realize their dreams. Imagine, someone you have never met before coming to help you realize your dreams without expecting anything in return. That is how scholarships are.

If there is a bank that has been at the forefront in making young people realize their dreams through education by sponsoring the studies, then it is Barclays Bank of Kenya.

The bank launched a three-year scholarship programme in September 2017 to cater for school fees and upkeep money for bright, needy university students. The programme is a partnership between the bank and Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) who are tasked to administer the fund on behalf of the bank.

To actualize this, Barclays Bank of Kenya set aside 65 million shillings to support the fund in the 2017/18 academic year.

Each student received 150,000 shillings which covered tuition and accommodation fees, laptop purchase and upkeep money.

To drive diversity and inclusion, the bank ensured that there was a 50:50 gender split and that at least 4 percent of the beneficiaries were persons living with disabilities. Beneficiaries were drawn from all the 47 counties across the country.

The Scholarship is part of a 12.5 billion shillings Pan African initiative which is being steered by Barclays Africa’s Group CEO, Maria Ramos to support the Education and Skills pillar of the shared growth agenda.

To date, Barclays Bank has reached 470 students. 66 are for the staff dependants and 400 are citizens.

According to available data, in Nairobi and its environs such as Kitengela, Limuru, Athi River, the has impacted 127 students from 20 universities, in central and North Eastern region the lender has impacted 149 students from 14 universities while in Eastern the bank has impacted 15 students from 4 universities.

In Upper Rift Valley Barclays Bank has impacted 63 students from 5 universities, Lower Rift Valley has seen 30 students reached from 4 universities while in Nyanza and Western region the lender has reached 67 students from 12 universities.

The Coastal region has seen 34 students reached from 3 universities.