Safaricom to offer 10,000 scholarships in a Sh30bn education programme

Mobile telecom company Safaricom will offer more than 10,000 scholarships as part of its plan to extend education support to communities. The five-year programme will target students in senior secondary and tertiary institutions in a national education investment targeting digital learning, modern infrastructure, and technical training.

The Sh30 billion initiative, branded “Citizens of the Future”, will be executed through the M-PESA Foundation and is structured to improve learning facilities across more than 600 institutions countrywide.

Safaricom says the plan will address, among other things, outdated facilities, weak classroom technology, lack of digital-ready teachers, and financing for students from needy families.

“We have developed education interventions that seek to bridge the gap through innovation and material support. Under the Citizens of the Future Program, we are consolidating our initiatives to ease access to education from early learning to technical and vocational training in an initial investment of about Ksh30 billion in the next five years,” said Peter Ndegwa, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom.

The programme also commits to building model “schools of the future,” institutions with modern, sustainable, tech-rich infrastructure fully adapted for the digital economy.

“We are consolidating our interventions to ease access to education from early learning to technical and vocational training. This first Shh30 billion investment will run over five years,” Ndegwa said.

He said the company is positioning itself not just as a telecom operator but as a key driver of national development, with digital education now sitting at the center of Kenya’s economic future.

The telcom has opened nominations for schools that deserve support. You can nominate a learning institution through https://www.citizenofthefuture.org/. The nomination window closes on December 31, 2025.