Kenyans trailblazing in global leadership

Four Kenyan changemakers have just completed an executive leadership development programme at the prestigious Harvard Business School in the United States.

The programme, which was supported by the highly acclaimed Rockefeller Foundation, has equipped them with skills that will help them to address complex social, economic and environmental challenges in their respective fields.

This is not your ordinary programme: Harvard Business School offers the world’s most rigorous and selective executive education programmes to senior leaders of industry, ministers and Heads of State and changemakers, showing just how highly rated these four Kenyans are.

The Rockefeller Foundation has, for many years, been contributing to a better world by networking with its partners and leveraging the diversity of thoughts across organisations as well as in the network of partnerships for effective promotion of sustainable development.

Paul Muthaura, who is leading The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), is one of the four Kenyans who had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. ACMI seeks to stimulate and facilitate the development of a carbon market ecosystem that allows companies, governments and organisations to address their greenhouse gas emissions through leveraging funding for projects that reduce or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Muthaura, who joined ACMI in August 2023, has been supporting the convening of partners to help Africa to meet its climate goals, position the continent as a leader in sustainable development and promote equitable allocation of revenues from the carbon markets at national economic and community levels.

Another is Dr Kennedy Odede, the founder and CEO of grassroots community-focused Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), a globally influential NGO. Through his innovative approach, Dr Odede has not only addressed local development issues but is now also influencing global development policies of leading organisations such USAid.

Shofco, which operates in 33 counties in Kenya, impacting over three million lives, in 2018 became the youngest-ever organisation to receive the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian prize. This is the world’s largest such award, given to non-profits that have made extraordinary contributions to alleviate human suffering.

Shofco’s work is grounded in a holistic approach to community development, addressing multiple dimensions of poverty and inequality to create lasting change in urban slums. Its programmes focus on education, healthcare, water and sanitation, economic empowerment, community mobilisation and youth development.

The third is Dorcas Onyango, who leads Shared Interest, a not-for-profit partial credit guarantee entity in Southern Africa. This initiative aims to expand access to local capital for small businesses in the region which lack collateral required by traditional banks by mitigating risks for lenders through absorption of a portion of their losses on loans made to SMEs.

The fourth is Ahmed Ogwel, a founding deputy director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

Established in 2016, Africa CDC is a public health agency of the African Union that supports member states in dealing with disease threats and strengthening their health institutions. It is at the forefront of public health initiatives on the continent and Ogwel's leadership and now the newfound knowledge will be instrumental in safeguarding the health and well-being of millions of Africans.

As the world moves towards incorporating local knowledge in global development programmes, Kenyans are proving that their experiences of issues on their continent, professional skills, creativity and passion can make a significant impact on the global stage.

These four Kenyans will now play even bigger roles in development by applying their professional skills, as well as local appreciation of global development issues.

Mr Misiga is a student at JKUAT. kennethmisiga @gmail.com.