Kennedy Odede

Kennedy Odede is founder of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO). A former street child who lived most of his life in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, he founded SHOFCO with savings from his $1 per day factory job.  SHOFCO is scaling across Kenya’s slums with a model that links free schools for girls to holistic community services for all, currently focused on the Kibera and Mathare slums. Kennedy was named a Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur, and recently won the Mohammed Ali Humanitarian Award. The New York Times, CNN, and Project Syndicate have published his opinion articles on urban poverty. His work has been featured by President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. Although he was informally educated, Kennedy received a full scholarship to Wesleyan University, where he currently serves on the board of trustees.