Category Archives: scholarships

Idea Exchange: Scholarships, Fellowships to Apply For

Applications are open for Chevening Scholarships  2015/2016. The Scholarships offers the opportunity to study for a one-year Master’s degree at leading UK universities and are awarded to outstanding established or emerging leaders across a wide range of fields: including Public Policy/Governance, International Law, Energy/Environment, Human Rights and Journalism. The deadline is 15 November.

EDIT CGI U 2015 Application Now Open. The eighth Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) U meeting takes place between March 6-8 2015, at the University of Miami, and will bring together more than 1,000 innovative student leaders to make Commitments to Action that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges. More than $500,000 in funding will be available to select CGI U 2015 students to help them turn their ideas into action. If you are 18 years or older and enrolled in an institution of higher education, Apply Now to be one as the early decision and travel assistance deadline is October 17, 2014, and the final application deadline is December 1, 2014.

The Deloitte Technology Fast50 Africa Programme is the region’s most objective industry-ranking to focus on the technology field, recognising technology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of revenue growth in Africa over the past five years. The deadline is 29 August.

The International Reporting Project (IRP) has a Health reporting trip that sends journalists to Mozambique (new media journalists are encouraged to apply) for an all-expense-paid, two-week reporting trip this fall. Interested applicants must be citizens of France, Germany, India, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States. Deadline is Sept. 2.

Five  (5) Journalism (5) opportunities to apply for in August include:

  • AJ+ offers reporting fellowship. Deadline was Aug. 1
  • Free online course in slideshow storytelling Starts Aug. 4
  • ICFJ, UN Climate Change Fellowship Deadline Aug. 12
  • Knight-Mozilla OpenNews Fellowship Deadline Aug. 16
  • Thomson Foundation hosts journalism competition Deadline Aug. 29

Apply to become a 2015 Knight-Mozilla Fellow  which comes with an opportunity to work with various leading news organizations. The deadline for applications is August 16.

Kenya’s Maktaba Award (Library of the Year Award) 2014 will be awarded in September. The Award, modeled on the German Library of the Year Award, aims to recognize excellence in the provision of library and information services in Kenya. Read More

The 2014 Mo Ibrahim Foundation Leadership Fellowships Programme is now accepting applications and those selected will receive mentoring from leaders at key multilateral institutions, namely the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). To apply for this fellowship you must be a national of an African country,  have 7-10 years of relevant work experience, have a Master’s Degree, be under the age of 40 (or 45 for women with children) and the  deadline for submissions is 12 September.

The newly launched  Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network (OCSDNet) will provide funding support (of $50,000 to $80,000 CAD) to up to 15 case studies from eligible countries, mainly to researchers and practitioners affiliated with organizations based in countries that are eligible for support by the IDRC (these include within the Global South (Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, East and South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa). The deadline for submissions is September 8.

The Orange African Social Venture Prize  2014 aims to promote social innovation by supporting development through information and communication technologies (ICT). In addition to funding of up to 25,000 euros, Orange will provide support to three projects for six months from its local subsidiaries as well as expert advice from business and telecoms professionals, and the winner will benefit from a patent application that will be submitted and paid by Orange. Also, a special prize of 10,000 euros will be awarded to a project which has used an Orange API. Deadline is September 19.

Pivot East’s Mobile Impact Ventures Program (“MIVP”). The Mlab, East Africa’s accelerator program for impact ventures with innovative solutions in agriculture, health & water and education, is currently seeking applications for its second cohort. The program is backed by the Rockefeller and Tony Elumelu Foundations, through the Global Impact Investment Network’s (“GIIN”) Africa Impact Economy Innovations Fund (“IEIF”). The deadline is 27 August.

The Safaricom Journalism Fellowship Program at Strathmore University is designed to provide skills which combine technology literacy with business literacy for journalists engaged in business writing across the media houses in Kenya. The program will admit 15 of the most promising candidates in the first year.

StyledByAfrica seeks a Kenyan designer who will have a chance to feature at Berlin’s Fashion Week 2015. Young African designers based in Kenya are encouraged to apply by submitting a portfolio of their work to FA254′s official website. The deadline is August 20.

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Acumen:The Acumen East Africa Fellows Program is a one-year, fully-funded leadership development program that gives 20 individuals from across East Africa the training they need to accelerate their social impact and leadership potential. Applications are open until September 8.

Google RISE Awards are grants for organizations across the globe that promote Computer Science (CS) education or run initiatives that reach girls, underrepresented minorities, and students facing socio-economic barriers under age 18. Grants range from $15,000 to $50,000.

 Innovation Prize for Africa aims at mobilising leaders from all sectors to fuel African innovation in key sectors such as science, technology and engineering which contribute towards the sustainability of Africa. The IPA is becoming integral to facilitating ground-breaking thinking, creativity and driving awareness to the outstanding work being done in Africa by Africans. Entries for the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) 2015 are now open and the deadline for entries is 31 October 2014.  Note the IPA 2013 winner, AgriProtein went on to raise $11 million to build its first two commercial farms in Cape Town, South Africa.

Morland Writing Scholarships  are available for published works of between 2,000 to 5,000 words from anyone who has been born in Africa or both of whose parents were born in Africa. They are worth £18,000 and the application deadline is October 31.

TED Fellows: Apply now to be a 2015 TED Fellow. Deadline is September 21.

We look for different applicants than many other leadership-oriented programs. Instead of business people, professionals, policy wonks and government officials, the TED Fellows program focuses on doers, makers, inventors, advocates, filmmakers and photographers, musicians and artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, NGO heads, and human rights activists.

The inaugural East Africa Property Awards seek to bring together pioneers and leaders in real estate to showcase their products and who will be celebrated at a gala in Nairobi on November 27. There are 21 categories categories spanning across developers, real estate agents, interior design, telecommunications service providers and media. Apply before 11 November.

#TurnthePageonHateSpeech photo contest Are you a Journalist? Photographer? Filmmaker? Writer? Blogger? Cartoonist? Poet? Social Activist? Or simply an Engaged Citizen? Tell us What Hate Speech Means To You for a chance to win a free trip to the African Media Leaders’ Forum in Johannesburg! Deadline, October 15.

Ushahidi is launching a campaign dubbed Translators Power Ushahidi to help get 15 new languages translated to more than 80% completion by the end of 2014! Goodies and Schwag up for grabs.

See another EXTENSIVE list of online opportunities from Advance Africa.

What other opportunities are there for readers to apply for?

Idea Exchange: Bank, Literature, Journalism, Opportunities, and Win a Free Phone

The Africa AgriBusiness Challenge from Enactus Kenya and Syngenta seeks out youth to generate creative business ideas to improve the agricultural productivity of certain crop value chains. Deadline is June 10.

The 2014 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship will have five awards to celebrate entrepreneurs at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle; lifetime achievement, transformational business, outstanding mature business, outstanding growing business and outstanding social entrepreneur.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. Details here .. via @calestous.

@AfriCOG Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme 2014. Deadline is 30 May. 

Anthemis Fellowship seeks out entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders who are passionate about building an improved financial services industry fit for the digital age. The Anthemis Fellowship program includes 4 months at the Anthemis London office, 4 months with one of their portfolio companies and 4 months with a major financial services firm. It also comes with a monthly stipend of EUR2000 and an invitation to attend the Anthemis #HackingFinance Retreat from July 10-13, 2014 in Meribel, France. Deadline is June 1. 

@APO_Source has had a scholarship for an African journalist to to attend the 2014 annual meetings of the African Development Bank.

Bloomberg Africa ‏@BBGAfrica – seeks Swaziland, Eritrea, Djibouti, G.Bissau, Cape Verde, Eq. Guinea, Sao Tome stringers – Please e-mail asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Citi Africa Management Associate Programme Citi in Africa is  looking for ambitious graduates with strong academic backgrounds, maximum of two years’ work experience, leadership, teamwork, and excellent communication skills.

The 2014 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist Awards will recognise excellence in culture, economics & business (NEW), energy & infrastructure (NEW), environment, health & medical, news impact (NEW), photography, press freedom, sports, language general news, Francophone news and also Portuguese news. Details here and the deadline is 30 May.

EABL Foundation scholarships for needy students who have gained admission to Kenya public universities. Deadline is June 6. 

Etisalat Prize 2014 for African literature is now open with a top prize of £15,000 and a fellowship at the University of East Anglia, while winner and shortlisted writers also receive a sponsored two city tour promoting their books. Details here and the deadline is 8 August.

The Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature include awards for a picture Book (targeting readers aged 6 – 8 years), early chapter (targeting readers aged 9 -11) and rising writers (for a young African author under the age of 18 who demonstrates the talent and drive to become the next great African author for children). Details here and the deadline is June 29.

Jalada / @KwaniTrust seek 3 best Afrofuture submissions for a second anthology. Deadline is D/L 15

Japan Government scholarships  in research, teacher training, technology, and specialized training .. via @njathika

Want to be a Jameson brand ambassador? Here’s how to apply (via @uqweli ) oops – deadline also passed.

KCB: The region’s largest bank has ongoing internships, management trainee and management exchange programs. Sourced from @RookieKE blog.
 
Kenya Revenue Authority –  KRA graduate trainee program 2014

The Kenya StartUp Cup is open to all Kenyan youth entrepreneurs who can apply to win Kshs 1 million (~$11,500). Details from the @prepaid_africa blog and the deadline is May 20.

KenyaTop100 seeks successful companies with turnover of Kshs 70 million to Kshs 1 billion (~$12,000)  with 3 years audited accounts to compete and be among @kenyastop100 

Kijabe Forest Trust @KijabeForest  is seeking a new logo design.

Kuona Trust has internship opportunities for students at their offices in Hurlingham, Nairobi. 


The Kwani Trust 2014 fiction workshop seeks to develop new contemporary fiction writers between the ages of 18 and 24 and from outside of Nairobi. To apply, check the website, and send email to submissions_at_kwani.org by May 26.

Orange  has launched the 4th edition of the Orange African Social Venture Prize which will award prizes to four projects; three with grants of 10,000 EUR, 15,000 EUR and 25,000 EUR, and a new special prize of 10,000 EUR. It’s open to all entrepreneurs or legal entities that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition and the deadline is 19 September.

Power Africa Off Grid Energy Challenge from @USADF and @GeneralElectric Africa offers up to $100,000 to 100% African owned and African managed firms that seek to power up under-served parts of rural Kenya. Deadline is June 20.  

School of Data: Become a School of Data Fellow as they are currently broadening their efforts to spread data skills around the world, and are seeking people who are data savvy, understand the role of NGO’s, are interested or experienced in working with journalism and/or civil society, or enjoy community-building.  Deadline is 1 June.


Standard Chartered Bank Fast Track Program: The bank is looking for young graduates to join their management trainee program in several African countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and several international locations. Sourced from @RookieKE blog

 
The Stanford University Africa MBA Fellowship Program pays for tuition and associated fees (approximately US $145,000) for citizens of African countries with financial need who wish to obtain an MBA at Stanford GSB. Stanford will award up to eight Stanford Africa MBA Fellowships annually. Details here and the deadline is 13 June.

Strathmore University @StrathU scholarships from @imbankke for 10 needy students pursuing various Finance related degree programmes.

Swedish Institute Management Programme‏ The Swedish Institute is launching a new leadership programme for progressive leaders from Kenya,Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia – offering a combination of theory and practice in the area of responsible leadership and sustainable business.  Details here and the deadline is June 6.

Total Kenya Graduate Management Trainee Program. The company was is looking for young dynamic graduates.  Also sourced from @RookieKE blog but the deadline was 7 May  
The Wall Street Journal @WSJ looking for entrepreneurial reporter to cover the most entrepreneurial of Africa beats–business, from Nairobi. Apply to @pwonacott

Submit your wikimedia proposals to be included at Wiki Indaba 2014 in Johannesburg. Details here and the deadline is 15 May.
The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2014 seeks highly qualified and motivated individuals skilled in areas relevant to the World Bank’s operations such as, economics, finance, education, public health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, and natural resource management. Details here and the deadline is 30 June.
 
Win a Nokia Lumia 1320: There are very few comments on the blog here despite the number of daily readers, and many of the comments are from spammers promoting products from far off countries. To stimulate comments, I’m giving away a brand new Nokia Lumia 1320 phone (worth about $400/Kshs 35,000) to the person who engages the most on the site. The phone was an excellent, but unexpected, prize awarded to the winner of the best business blog at the recent 2014 Kenya Blog Awards ceremony. During the month of May, readers to the blog and it’s archives, can make as many comments as they want, and I’ll respond on some. 
Rules 
1. There are no rules about winning.
2. It’s about serious comments, not volume – and blog comments only, not tweets/tags
3. This is personal, and the promo has nothing to do with Nokia  or Nokia East Africa.
4. @Coldtusker is excluded 🙁
5. An announcement will be made on June 14, and there may not be a winner  if no one is deemed to be worthy.

Idea Exchange: African Business, Bellagio, County tech, Kenya blog, TED Global

New, and ongoing, opportunities to apply for, including..

The African Media Initiative (AMI)  African Story Challenge  provides grants to support African business reporting and is inviting applications from individual journalists and newsrooms with unique story ideas or projects on business and technology that can only be produced with substantial support. The top twenty multimedia projects that show the best potential for adopting innovative storytelling techniques using data journalism tools, will be shortlisted for the final prize and will be awarded grants of up to $20,000 to produce them for broadcast and publication.

The All Africa Business Leaders Awards [AABLA] awards invite nominees in four categories, business leader of the year, business woman of the year, entrepreneur of the year and the young business leader of the year who through their vision, leadership and commitment make significant contributions, financial impact and/or a considerable differences through their assistance given to the work of voluntary organisations, communities, causes or society.  Deadline is 23 May.

Commonwealth Scholarships The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has 
scholarships for candidates from developing African and South Asian Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters degrees in International Human Rights Law from September 2014. Deadline is 23 April.

Nominations are now open for the 2014 Kenya Banking Awards by Think Business and categories include best bank in East Africa, and awards for product innovation, mortgage finance, SME, product, agency banking, internet, mobile, customer satisfaction, asset finance, best recovery, fastest growing, CEO, lifetime achievement, among others. 
Vote for the short-listed Kenya Blog Award finalists for the year 2014. This blog is nominated under the best business blog and there are other categories for best blogs in technology, photography, creative writing, food, environmental / agricultural, fashion/beauty, politics, corporate blog, topical blog, sports, entertainment/lifestyle, travel, health, county blog, best new blog and Kenyan Blog of the Year.

Kenya ICT Innovation Awards 2014 celebrate Kenyan companies and organizations that are using ICT in new and interesting ways. Categories this year include agriculture, BPO, education & training, environmental management, financial services, gender youth & vulnerable groups, healthcare delivery, housing & urbanization, manufacturing, social equity & poverty reduction, tourism, water & sanitation, wholesale & retail trade and finally county government issues. The deadline to apply is March 31.

Pivot East The 2014 edition of the most prestigious East African mobile start-up competition is back, and yhis years conference will be held on 24th – 25th June in Nairobi, Kenya. Apply in 5 categories of mobile finance, mobile enterprise, mobile entertainment, mobile society and mobile utility by 11 April. 

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio residency program offers academics from universities or think tank-based academics or scientists a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a stimulating array of disciplines and geographies. Fiction and non-fiction writers should apply through a separate Arts & Literary Arts Residency competition, and the Foundation does have a limited travel assistance program, based on income level of invited residents. Deadline is May 1.

The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims  to reward entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa in disciplines from mechanical, civil and computing to biomedical, oil and gas, mining and electronic engineering.  Every shortlisted entrant will receive six months of extensive mentoring, training and support in commercialising their innovation, as part of the Academy’s commitment to international development. Thereafter, finalists will be invited to present their innovation and a winner will be selected to receive £25,000. The deadline for entries is 30 May.
TED Fellowship. The TED Fellows program is looking for people who have “demonstrated remarkable accomplishment.” Normally, there are two admission cycles per year: one for TED and one for TEDGlobal with 20 Fellowships to each conference. Deadline  is April 18, 2014. 

EDIT

Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature are an annual Pan-African award series that recognize and celebrate excellence in stories targeting African children. Deadline is June 29.

The Business Daily Top40Under40 Women series is now open for 2014. Download entry forms from the Business Daily website and submit nominations via email. 

What other opportunities are out there? Share in the comments section

Equity Education & Leadership Congress

There’s a unique event taking place this week at the Kenyatta University Amphitheatre in Nairobi called the Annual Education & Leadership Congress (watch livestream of the #EGFcongress sessions).

 
About 5,000 children from across Kenya have assembled to hear talks from business, social, and other leaders from Kenya and other countries. They are beneficiaries of Wings to Fly which offers secondary school scholarships to top primary school kids, and the University Sponsorship Program, that offers university scholarships. The financial and mentorship programs are supported by the Equity Group Foundation, and the MasterCard Foundation with support from USAID and UKAID.
This year #WingstoFly is sponsoring the high school education of over 2,000 boys and girls (20 per district who applied at their local Equity bank branches and were selected by their communities). 
For another group of 250 who topped their districts in KCSE (national high school exams) in 2011, the University sponsorship program will be supporting their education and Kenyan and overseas universities, including for a few who will be starting at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton and Columbia universities. Over 1200 have benefited from this including Samuel Kirubi, who was the first beneficiary of the program in 1989 and is currently the Managing Director of Equity Bank Rwanda.
The mentorship session includes an annual event in Nairobi while many beneficiaries also mentor others within the program.  A session yesterday on innovation had Anthony Mwai (Regional GM IBM East Africa), Erik Hersman (Co Founder iHub  and Ushahidi), Paul Kukubo (CEO, Kenya ICT Board) and John Waibochi (Founder Virtual City) and which was moderated by the Equity Bank CEO, James Mwangi.
All the panelists gave brief talks on the need to innovate and change in order to survive in the world of business. Hersman spoke of the iHub with 8,000 members with the potential to change the IT status quo through phone innovations, research and super computers, Waibochi spoke of changing his business model from Simu ya Jamii, selling expensive internet, to building agriculture apps and the need to always anticipate the next thing coming, Mwai spoke of IBM’s 100 year path from meat weighing scales to typewriters, mainframe computers and restructuring and now consulting & software, while Kukubo spoke of the need for the students to visualize the next 15 years because the present was barely fathomed 15 years ago.

KCB 2010 AGM

Excerpts from a few minutes spent at the annual general meeting of KCB – Kenya’s largest bank that was held on Friday May 7 at KICC

Summary
Good: they have styled up – gave packed lunches, had registration points spaced out so no crowds/ queues squeezing and interrupting the meeting
Bad; timing is an issue, it was one hour before the auditor finished and the Chairman opened floor to questions – ok they may have a large crowd (5,093 attended the last AGM), but still!

Shareholder Q&A
Annual report was not circulated: copies were given to shareholders as they walked in so some said they had reviewed them. Why even print glossy copies which will be thrown away after AGM (print on plain paper instead)? Why not avail copies at bank branches nationwide?
CEO replied Last year shareholders approved this new measure – and the bank will no longer be sending out annual reports to its 170,000 shareholders – an exercise that was costing them about 30 million (~$390,000) each year. They printed fewer copies this year, but will look at other ways to get it out faster such as e-mail [note: it’s been available at their site for about a month, but few shareholders went and downloaded PDF]

Raise Capital: this happened later with the shareholder approval to raise about Kshs 15 billion (~$200 million) – CEO said after growing at about 20-30% p.a. they needed more capital as a regulatory requirement to continue to take in more deposits and lend out money. Their goal is to raise 21 billion over next few years and balance may be from bond.

Are subsidiaries profitable? (information missing from accounts)? CEO pointed out the information was in the account notes, but said many subsidiaries were in infancy after massive investment in people, technology, marketing and were still not profitable, asked for more time for them to achieve payback [A/R notes showed KCB Tanzania lost 141 million, KCB Uganda lost 438 million, KCB Rwanda lost 273m, while KCB Sudan made a profit of 84 million ]

Open more branches in under-served areas CEO said they have slowed down on this in 2010, they have attained branch network of 210 (168 in Kenya) and 650 ATM’s (including partners) . however where they see a need , they will expand their footprint.

Poor customer service: some shareholders companied about poor service at KCB branches, one said their staff had not kept pace with technology while another noted that staff still think they are working for a government agency. Chairman said they have noted the comments

Ernst & Young have been auditors for a long time is that prudent , or are you stuck with them? yes E&Y have been their auditors since 1989, there is no requirement for company to rotate auditors, though management has noted the point. CEO also mentioned that CBK requires that the lead partners is rotated and that has been the case at E&Y partner who handles KCB

Shareholders companied about no SWAG this year to which CEO said they had reviewed costs of AGM and decided to focus on dividend; they still gave lunch to shareholders who showed up; they handed out (ahead of meeting) – a brown bag packed lunch (from Tintin Restaurant) with chicken drumstick, sausage, potato crisps, boiled egg, banana, soda

Other bank happenings
– Separately another bank Standard Chartered today announced a rights issue to raise capital from shareholders(estimate 3 – 6 billion targeted)
– I&M Bank will give 10 scholarships to Strathmore business students enrolled in 4 year BBS in actuarial science, finance or financial economics. Application deadline is May 31
– Stanbic Bank has an Africa Graduate development programme – apply here
– Equity Bank Pre-university sponsorship program wil benefit 200 of Kenya’s top high school graduates – details here