Kennedy Odede

Last updated
Kennedy Odede
EducationWesleyan University (2012)
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO of Shining Hope for Communities
Known forActivism, Grassroots Organisations
Notable workBook: Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum (2015) by: Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede
SpouseJessica Posner
ChildrenOscar Garvey Odede, Maridad Esther Odede, Zayn Nelson Odede (3)
Website https://www.shofco.org/

Kennedy Odede is a Kenyan social entrepreneur and author. [1] Odede is the co-founder and CEO of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a movement based in Nairobi, Kenya, and New York, USA.

Contents

Odede was awarded the 2010 Echoing Green Fellowship and was named on Forbes under 30 list of top social entrepreneurs in 2014. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. His work has been featured by President Bill Clinton, Madonna, Beyonce, [2] and by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times and his book A Path Appears. Odede's writing has appeared in The New York Times, [3] CNN, [4] Project Syndicate [5] and The Guardian. [6]

Odede is a Young Global Leader (YGL) at the World Economic Forum and an Obama Foundation Africa Leader. He is the co-author of the New York Times best-selling book Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum, which he wrote with his wife and business partner, Jessica Posner.

Early life

The oldest of eight children, Odede was born in a small village in Kenya, where he lived until the village was struck by famine when he was two years old. His mother moved the family to the capital city, Nairobi, to seek better living conditions. He became a street child at the age of ten. Encountering a lack of jobs and housing in Nairobi, they ended up in Kibera. Odede lived in Kibera for 23 years. In 2004, he worked in a factory for $0.10 an hour, enough money to start the organization Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO). SHOFCO became the largest grassroots organization in Kibera. Without any formal education, Odede received a full scholarship to Wesleyan University in America. Odede graduated in 2012 as the Commencement Speaker with honors in sociology before returning full-time to SHOFCO. [ citation needed ]

Career

In 2010, Odede was awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship. [7] He was named to the Forbes "30 under 30 list" for top social entrepreneurs [8] and is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. His work has been featured by President Bill Clinton and Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times. Odede served on the United Nations International Commission for Financing of Global Education Opportunities and on the Board of Directors of Wesleyan University. He is a senior fellow with Humanity in Action and an Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow. He was named a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2022. He is a Young Global Leader (YGL) of the World Economic Forum. In 2022, he was appointed by Administrator Samantha Power to the USAID Advisory Committee.

Personal life

Odede is the co-author of an autobiography, Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum, that is about him and his wife, Jessica Posner, and their collaboration. [9] In August 2018, they had newborn twins: Oscar Garvey and Maridad Esther. In January 2020, their third child, Zayn Nelson, was born. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nairobi</span> Capital and largest city of Kenya

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census. The city is commonly referred to as The Green City in the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kibera</span> Urban slum in Nairobi, Kenya

Kibera is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, 6.6 kilometres (4.1 mi) from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa. The 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census reports Kibera's population as 170,070, contrary to previous estimates of one or two million people. Other sources suggest the total Kibera population may be 500,000 to well over 1,000,000 depending on which slums are included in defining Kibera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gage</span> American computer scientist

John Burdette Gage is a retired computer scientist and technology executive. He was the 21st employee of Sun Microsystems, where he is credited with creating the phrase The Network is the Computer. He served as Sun's vice president and chief researcher and director of the Science Office, until leaving on June 9, 2008, to join Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner to work on green technologies for global warming; he departed KPCB in 2010 to apply what he had learned "to broader issues in other parts of the world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFK Africa</span>

Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott, Salim Mohamed, and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, CFK Africa is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. Registered as an NGO in Kenya and a 501(c)(3) in the US, CFK Africa is a pioneer of grassroots participatory development, and leads a community-based sports program, girls' empowerment centre, medical clinic, maternity centre, nutrition centre, young health and wellness centre, community-health outreach program, scholarship program, entrepreneurship and economic development initiatives, and a research-based initiative to improve educational quality in informal schools in Kibera. FK Africa is also an affiliated entity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has an office at the university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathare</span>

Mathare is a collection of slums in Nairobi with a population of approximately 500,000 people; the population of Mathare Valley alone, the oldest of the slums that make up Mathare, is 180,000 people. Mathare is the home of football teams Mathare United and Real Mathare of the MYSA. Mathare is currently part of two electoral constituencies; the titular Mathare Constituency and the northern part being in Ruaraka Constituency. The northern part was initially part of Kasarani Constituency up to the 2013 elections when Kasarani was split into three electoral constituencies; Ruaraka being among them. The southern part was domiciled in Starehe Constituency.

Kibera Kid is a short film set in the Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya. It was written, directed and co-produced by Nathan Collett in collaboration with the locals of Kibera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Collett</span> Kenyan film director

Nathan Collett is a filmmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Sun Foundation</span>

Hot Sun Foundation is a non-profit organization that works in Nairobi, Kenya with young people from urban slums and other marginalized communities of East Africa to train and expose their talents and potential on the world stage. Hot Sun Foundation trains youth in all aspects of filmmaking, from scriptwriting, camera, sound, pre production, budgeting, production, directing, editing, and marketing. Vision of Hot Sun Foundation: Social transformation through art and media Mission of Hot Sun Foundation: Identify and develop youth talent to tell their stories on film

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korogocho</span> Informal settlement in Nairobi Province, Kenya

Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city.

Kawangware is a low income residential area in Nairobi, Kenya, about 15 km west of the city centre, between Lavington and Dagoretti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Holt</span> British photojournalist (born 1972)

Katherine Emily Holt is a British photojournalist, who works primarily across Africa and the Middle East to gather humanitarian and development stories for NGOs and private companies, as well as the UK and global media. She is also the director of communications agency, Arete.

Kisumu Ndogo is a name given to "villages" that are part of two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, Kibera and Korogocho. Kisumu Ndogo means little Kisumu. Most dwellers of these villages are believed to be of low income. Nowadays, there are many villages across the country called Kisumu Ndogo. for example, there are in fact two Kisumu Ndogo villages in Kilifi county alone, one in Malindi sub county and one in Kilifi North sub county. There is also one in Mombasa and Nakuru Counties.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nairobi, Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hult Prize</span> International prize for social enterprise

The Hult Prize is an annual competition for ideas solving pressing social issues, such as food security, water access, energy, and education. Named for Bertil Hult, the prize is awarded to college students, and has referred to as the "Nobel Prize for students".

Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) is a grassroots movement based in Nairobi, Kenya in urban slums providing services, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls. SHOFCO serves more than 350,000 urban slum dwellers in 10 slums across three cities in Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mukuru slums</span> Informal settlement in Nairobi City, Kenya

Mukuru is a collection of slums in the city of Nairobi. It is approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) south of the central business district of Nairobi. It is one of the largest slums in Nairobi. It stretches along the Nairobi–Ngong River, situated on waste lands in the industrial area of the city between the Outering Ring Road, North Airport Road and Mombasa Road. Mukuru is among other major slums in Nairobi such: Korogocho, Kibera and Mathare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunapanda Institute</span> Organization

Tunapanda Institute is a United States based non-profit organization operating in East Africa. With the goal of training disadvantaged young people, various free courses in technology, design and entrepreneurship are offered to increase the chance of graduates in the labour market. The majority of its work is based in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, but it has also operated in other parts of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Eunice Wanjiru Njoki, known as Mammito, is a Kenyan stand-up comedian, actress, writer and an mcee. She grew up in the slums of Kibera.

The Uweza Foundation is a non-profit organization which works to promote human development in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. It was founded in 2008 and is registered in the United States as a 501(c)3 organization. It is led by actress Rooney Mara.

References

  1. "Education Books - Best Sellers - November 15, 2015 - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  2. Ombogo, Mona. "How I got Beyoncé to fund my war on poverty- Shofco founder Kennedy Odede". Standard Digital News. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  3. Odede, Kennedy (2018-11-15). "Opinion | What a Kenyan Slum Can Teach America About Politics". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  4. Odede, Kennedy (8 May 2015). "Africa's surprising future (Opinion)". CNN. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  5. Odede, Kennedy (2013-08-01). "Africa's Urban Challenge | by Kennedy Odede". Project Syndicate. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  6. Odede, Kennedy (2019-08-07). "I spent 21 years of my life angry before I realised we in the slums must lead change | Kennedy Odede". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  7. "Kennedy Odede". Echoing Green. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  8. Carlyle, Erin. "Kennedy Odede, 29 - pg.22". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  9. "Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede Transform Africa's Largest Urban Slum | The Women's Eye". The Women's Eye. 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  10. "Jessica Posner Odede on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-10-22.