By Steve Muthini
Equity Bank organized its 12th Annual Leadership Congress that was decentralized owing to the large number of beneficiaries of the bank’s mentorship programme.
16 regional educational and leadership congress were held across the country courtesy of Equity Group Foundation.
Machakos School hosted the three day event which attracted 1639 Wings to Fly and Elimu scholarship beneficiaries who are on full scholarships by 8 Equity Bank branches in Machakos, Makueni and Kajiado counties.
Countrywide, the programme had attracted 21,777 incoming Form Two, Three and Four scholars who are beneficiaries of the Wings to Fly scholarship program
The theme of this year’s congress was ‘Self-Drive: The Key to Lifetime. As part of the rigorous mentorship programme, the scholars are engaged by top corporate captains, academia, government officials, religious leaders, teachers and other scholars in interactive plenary sessions aimed at challenging them to be creative and innovative in driving change within their homes, schools and communities.
The theme and daily programs are tailored to support scholars to unlock their potential and embrace valuable life skills such as flexibility and resilience which enhances their
problem-solving capacity.
Speaking in Machakos School, Equity Bank Kenya Managing Director Gerald Warui said the congress was the 12th since they came up with the idea of creating an environment where scholars can interact and draw lessons from those who have travelled the same route.
Mr. Warui called on the young scholars to avoid destructive ideas that might ruin their future and urged them to cultivate a culture of self- drive, hard work and good character.
The scholars planted 1,710 trees in the school compound as part of Equity Bank’s 35 million tree planting initiative which aims at increasing the country’s forest cover to 10 per cent by the end of 2022. So far, the Bank has planted over 12 million trees.
Mr. Warui asked all school principals to visit their nearest branches and get trees from the branch managers as part of Equity Greening the Nation project during this rainy season.
Machakos Sub-County Director of Education Simon Mutemi encouraged the scholars to put in practice what they had learned in order to achieve success in life.
Mr. Boniface Sulu, a beneficiary, reminded the students that all dreams are valid and that they can better their lives to help others.
Boniface went to Kapsabet Boys High School and later joined University of Nairobi and graduated with Bachelor of Science degree. He currently works with the Bank.
