Hope and Opportunity: Sanlam Grants University Scholarship to a needy Student

By Aoma Kezi­ah,

San­lam, a pan-African finan­cial ser­vices group, has announced a full uni­ver­si­ty schol­ar­ship to sup­port Nathan Kipng’eno, a bright and needy stu­dent from Sogoo vil­lage locat­ed in the out­skirts of Narok.

Nathan, a 17-year-old for­mer stu­dent of Cheborge High School in Narok, excelled in the 2024 Kenya Cer­tifi­cate of Sec­ondary Edu­ca­tion (KCSE) exams, scor­ing an A‑,  first came into the spot­light ear­ly last month after a video of his father ener­get­i­cal­ly danc­ing and jump­ing in cel­e­bra­tion of his son’s stel­lar per­for­mance went viral on social media. This was then post­ed under San­lam Group’s Pan African #PROUD­Mo­ments social media cam­paign.

Kipng’eno, who aspires to study Med­i­cine, expressed immense grat­i­tude for the schol­ar­ship. With the schol­ar­ship cov­er­ing his tuition and oth­er edu­ca­tion­al expens­es, he can now focus on his stud­ies and work towards his dream of build­ing a bet­ter life for him­self, his fam­i­ly, and his com­mu­ni­ty.

“I am tru­ly hum­bled and grate­ful to San­lam for this oppor­tu­ni­ty. Becom­ing a doc­tor has always been my dream, and this schol­ar­ship brings me clos­er to that goal. I hope to use my edu­ca­tion to improve my life, give back to my com­mu­ni­ty and sup­port my fam­i­ly.” He said .

Speak­ing dur­ing the schol­ar­ship award cer­e­mo­ny, San­lam Kenya’s Group Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer, Dr. Nyamem­ba Patrick , not­ed that Nathan’s jour­ney is tru­ly inspir­ing. He embod­ies the spir­it of hard work, prov­ing that cir­cum­stances do not define one’s des­tiny.

“No mat­ter where you come from or the chal­lenges you face, suc­cess is always with­in reach with deter­mi­na­tion and unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment. At San­lam, we believe in the pow­er of edu­ca­tion to trans­form lives. By offer­ing this schol­ar­ship to stu­dents like Nathan, we are invest­ing in the future of one of Kenya’s bright­est young minds.” He remarked.

The tears of joy from his father, who sac­ri­ficed great­ly to ensure Nathan received an edu­ca­tion, deeply moved the San­lam Group, inspir­ing them to take up the chal­lenge of sup­port­ing him by ful­ly cov­er­ing his tuition fees to the Uni­ver­si­ty he will be placed to by the Kenya Uni­ver­si­ties and Col­leges Cen­tral Place­ment Ser­vice (KUCCPS)

By this sup­port,  San­lam rein­forces its ongo­ing com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing aca­d­e­m­ic suc­cess, pro­mot­ing finan­cial lit­er­a­cy, and empow­er­ing future gen­er­a­tions of lead­ers. Pro­vid­ing access to edu­ca­tion and sup­port­ing the pro­fes­sion­al growth of indi­vid­u­als like Nathan allows San­lam to lay the foun­da­tion for a brighter and more inclu­sive future.