The 2022 CNN Hero award winner Nelly Cheboi has formed a partnership with European Business University of Luxembourg (EBU) to offer scholarship to underprivileged people in Kenya.
The University offers scholarships globally and a majority of the beneficiaries are from Africa with an aim of promoting education.
Cheboi who is the founder of Techlit Africa has provided thousands of students across rural Kenya with access to donated, upcycled computers — and the chance at a brighter future.
In an interview she said one of the people from Zawadi Africa the program that offered a scholarship to her in America was a professor at EBU and she sent her a message requesting her to be a speaker at EBU.
Cheboi said She took part in a talk in a women and leadership course which she described as a wonderful meeting.
“Everyone was so engaged and then immediately after we built a relationship with EBU,” she said.
From that time, she said most of the teachers at Techlit enrolled for a course and today there are 15 who have graduated.
Among the successes of the partnership is one of the techlit staff had aspired to be an accountant and was doing bookkeeping with only high school education.
She said the staff wanted to go to college but he was the first born in the family and couldn’t because his younger siblings were still in high school and primary which hindered him from achieving his dreams.
“There was no way he could go to college yet other kids were in high school so he chose to hustle first before paying his college fees later, “she said.
Through the EBU scholarship the Techlit Africa staff enrolled in an accounting course and plans to do CPA.
To her what EBU is doing is good because like some of their teachers who could not afford to go to college are able to pursue their dream careers through the scholarships.
So far, the Techlit Africa staff teach during the day and also get to class at night.
She said EBU played a major role in the CNN Heroes award victory as most of their students voted for her.
During the day she won the award Dr. James Muli the President of EBU while congratulating her said Cheboi was a symbol of not only the women they aspire to promote but also youth who are an integral part of the EBU Vision.
In a statement, Muli said Cheboi’s Organisation Techlit is their partner and her co-workers were taking courses with the University that’s why they had every reason to celebrate her.
“We are a proud partner of Nelly Cheboi and her quest for Affordable, Accessible, and Equitable education. Her vision of technology being an enabler is an intricate part of the strategy EBU applies with its 13,000+ students primarily located in Africa, said the President in part.
A hard-working student, Cheboi received a full scholarship to Augustana College in Illinois in 2012.
She said technology can really makes things which are hard so easy such as education.
In the European Business University, she said one is able to study any course online after working hours instead of the normal physical full time classroom lectures for four years.
“So, I feel like with online what EBU is doing is so powerful, it shows that we can leverage technology at the corner at the intersection of technology we came make it a lot cheaper and a lot more penetrative,” she said.
The Model of EBU learning she said is so impactful as it is able to reach out to the hard-to-reach places provided there is internet the people in the remotest area can get education.
She said those studying at EBU use zoom calls and Emails which already puts them online such that by getting the education they learn digital knowledge.
“This puts them in such a position that they can apply for jobs online and work online its only just a step next so it’s very easy like if you are on zoom calls all the time for your EBU education it’s easy to be on a zoom call to talk about a project or marketing,” she said.
At Techlit Africa she said they are teaching children how to make money online because they believe there is so much power online.
She said What EBU was doing clearly shows one can get education online and still get a job online.
He message to African girls and mothers living in Poverty is that problems to end and her story is an example of how one can come from poverty and become a global icon.
IAN BYRON