James Mwangi’s Equity Group Foundation awards 10,705 Wings To Fly scholarships across Kenya

James Mwangi’s Equity Group Foundation (EGF) has awarded 10,705 pupils across Kenya with full scholarships through its Wings To Fly initiative. The successful recipients were selected from a host of 114,000 applicants, Kenya News reported.

EGF is the philanthropic arm of East Africa’s leading bank group, Equity Group Holdings Limited (EGHL).

The scholarship will enable the pupils to transition from primary school into their first year in secondary school in the coming academic year, which commences on July 26. Mwangi, the CEO of EGF, said it will provide tuition fees, accommodation, transport and pocket money.

Further commenting, Mwangi commended the government of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta “for introducing free day secondary school education to enable those who don’t get scholarships have an alternative and achieve their dreams.”

Formerly called Equity Bank Group, EGHL is a financial services holding based in the African Great Lakes region. It is headquartered in Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mwangi serves as its group CEO.

In May, the EGF opened applications for its 2021 Wings To Fly scholarship program. It promised to offer 10,500 scholarships to scholars from underprivileged backgrounds who excelled in the 2020 Kenya Certificate Primary Education exams.

Mwangi is implementing the scholarship in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and the German state-owned investment and development bank KfW.

The EGF initiative has received $41 million in financing from the Mastercard Foundation for a nine-year term since its commissioning in 2015.