Recently, Kenya has witnessed a remarkable growth in the number of foreign tech firms that set up shop in the country. In April alone, we saw Google announce plans to establish a product development center in Nairobi, while Visa also opened its Product Innovation Hub in the city and first in Africa. Additionally, various global companies have been taking advantage of the remote working structure to expand their talent search in the country.
Today, we tell the stories of some of KamiLimu’s beneficiaries who have landed exciting career opportunities in this new landscape. In this article, the full version of which can be found here, you will meet two mentees in the current cohort — Dorcas Litunya and Abednego Machogu — and four alumni — Beryl Nekesa, Joy Bii, Ruth Waiganjo, and Brenda Nyaringita.
We interviewed the six around three key areas:
- How KamiLimu contributed to them getting their present roles,
- What their responsibilities are, and
- The skills from KamiLimu that they are applying/ will apply in their roles.
Overall, we look at the transferability of skills, experiences, and lessons from KamiLimu to the workplace. For example, Dorcas had the following to say regarding how KamiLimu helped her to land the internship at Microsoft ADC:
My journey toward this role started even before I began thinking about pursuing opportunities in the tech field. During our first peer mentorship meeting with my peer mentor, Priscilla Koi, we started talking about the importance of data structures. Later, I reached out to one of the mentees in my group so that we could learn data structures together. I also got matched with Joy Bii, who is a Program Manager at Microsoft, as my professional mentor. Over the course of our professional mentorship relationship, we worked on my CV and LinkedIn profile and Joy would give really good feedback. When Microsoft announced their software engineering internships, Joy sent me the link and encouraged me to apply for it.
On the other hand, Joy mentioned that the skills she gained from KamiLimu that she applies in her role as a Program Manager at Microsoft ADC as:
…The communication and public speaking skills I learnt in KamiLimu have also come in handy as my role involves a lot of people engagement and interaction. I am now more confident when expressing myself and better at articulating my ideas and my work.
We are proud of the achievements made by these mentees and alumni. We believe that their stories and experiences are a true demonstration of the importance of mentorship to nurturing employability and increasing student learning outcomes. Read the full article here.
Enjoy!
