EQUITY BANK AIRLIFTS 73 SCHOLARS IN 2017, AS THE PROGRAMME’S VALUE HITS KSHS 10 BILLION

The 73 scholars have benefited from a year’s mentorship and paid internship programme at the bank which is anchored as an advanced leadership development initiative 

Equity Bank’s airlift programme to global universities has so far benefited 400 scholars. The programme supports scholars to secure full scholarships from leading institutions globally.
The total value of the scholarships to date stands at nearly Kshs. 10 billion (USD 100 million). This caters for tuition, air tickets and related expenses while at the respective universities for the entire period of studies.
The bank further extended a stipend of between Kshs 100,000 and Kshs 200,000 respectively to each of the 73 scholars leaving the country totalling to Kshs. 2.1 million for their travel and other essentials.
Speaking during the send-off ceremony, Equity Group CEO, Dr. James Mwangi advised the scholars to focus on academic pursuit, leadership training, networking and global transformational exposure in order to excel in their respective academic areas.
“In each of us there is a seed of leadership and greatness that needs to be nurtured and that is what the programme seeks to achieve. You will be exposed to numerous opportunities to build global networks and experiences which  will shape your mindset and set you on a path to influence your community and society contributing to the socio-economic transformation of our country. The Equity Leaders Programme (ELP) is in line with Kenya’s Vision 2030 of transforming Kenya into a globally competitive middle income economy,” Dr. Mwangi said.
ELP starts as a transition pre-university programme from the successful Wings to Fly Secondary School Scholarship Programme for bright and gifted ( but financially challenged) children executed by Equity Group in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation with support of USAID, UKAID and KfW. To date, 5,060 scholars have been enrolled into ELP with 2,343 drawn from the Wings to Fly Programme.
Some of the top universities the 73 scholars will be joining this year include: Princeton, Yale, Amherst, Duke, University of Pennsylvania,Columbia University, University of Toronto, Michigan State University, University of Edinburg and  Carnegie Mellon University.