Upskilling University-level Tech Students

Our work falls under the Global Learning Challenge, specifically to address the mismatch between what is learned in the classroom and what is required for gainful employment and impactful innovation, especially among university tech students in Africa. The continent boasts a youthful population, projected to increase by 42% by 2030. As the youth population rises, so do several factors that threaten their engagement in productive work: a high unemployment rate, withdrawal from the labor force, and lack of information and support toward gainful employment. A segment of the affected youth are university students in Kenya, with tertiary institutions experiencing over half a million student enrolments annually and producing over 80,000 graduates in the job market yearly. However, it can take up to five years for many of these graduates to earn gainful employment, leading to labor market detachment, slow socioeconomic growth, working in jobs that require skills they were not trained for, and disillusionment due to the inability to secure decent work. 

One contribution to this trend is the skills mismatch between what is learned in the classroom and what is expected in the industry, with most Kenyan employers indicating that graduates lack the technical skills to perform on the job. Also, up to 46% of Kenyan employers find that most graduates do not possess the soft skills to perform their jobs without reskilling, with up to 65% of Kenyan employers incurring retraining costs. Yet, the World Economic Forum identified technical and soft skills as increasingly becoming important in tandem, recognizing that closing the skills gap in human and technical competencies could add US$11.5 trillion to the global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028. In Kenya, these efforts could also increase the country's contribution to the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions (4IRs).

Technology is a crucial driver of the 4IRs, with the ICT industry accounting for up to 7% of Kenya's GDP. Yet, the quality of technologists supplied by tertiary institutions fails to meet the standards demanded by the market. For example, a 2023 report by the Federation of Kenyan Employers indicated that 33% of employers face challenges filling vacancies in ICT jobs to a large extent and 29% to some extent due to a lack of skills. It is no wonder that in 2022, the Kenyan government unveiled a 10-year Digital Masterplan whose implementation requires competent human capital. Consistent mentorship is one approach that can upskill students in human and technical competencies, even within resource-constrained environments, thus nurturing employability and increasing student learning outcomes. Unfortunately, up to 77% of Kenyan university students do not receive any mentorship outside the classroom. This solution addresses this gap. 

Our solution is an evidence-based structured mentorship model that complements classroom learning for Kenyan tech students by training beneficiaries on industry-relevant 21st-century skills that are not typically contained within their four or five-year university curricula. The solution is evidence-based because it is designed based on feedback from our beneficiaries, the impact of the mentorship model, input from our industry stakeholders, documented skills requirements of the tech industry, and scientific frameworks.

The mentorship model consists of the following eight components:

i) A three-step selection process after potential beneficiaries apply to join the program: (i) evaluation of entry requirements, (ii) review of essays that motivate the need for mentorship, (iii) virtual interviews. 30-40 mentees are selected per cohort. Each cohort is trained for eight months.

ii) Gender-inclusivity, where we observe a 50-50 representation of beneficiaries who identify as male or female. For example, a cohort of 38 mentees consists of 19 male and 19 female mentees. 

iii) A stakeholder-driven curriculum that undergoes multiple levels of review by the program's alumni, mentors, tech industry practitioners, and academics. The curriculum consists of topics that are grounded on six pillars:

    a) Personal Development, where we nurture human skills that contribute to holistic growth. For example, training in public speaking fosters effective communication skills. 

    b) Professional Development, where we build excellence in professional settings. For example, training in interview preparation fosters employment preparedness. 

    c) Scholarship, where we empower success in academia, research, and grant applications. For example, training in essay writing increases success in funding applications. 

    d) Innovation, where we grow expertise in human-centered design to build tech innovations. For example, responsible computing and design thinking training fosters user-centered problem-solving skills.

    e) Industry-relevant ICT skills, covering in-demand ICT skills towards preparedness in career and innovation. For example, training in data science skills can be used to build a machine-learning solution to an identified socioeconomic problem. 

    f) Community Engagement, where we immerse mentees in the local and global tech communities. For example, exposing mentees to global leaders in tech increases their knowledge of succeeding in the tech industry. 

iv) Multi-phase curriculum that combines immersive, hands-on, and simulated learning where beneficiaries are immersed in competitions that simulate real-world environments, such as a mock job application process. 

v) Collaborative mentorship with mentors consisting of the Program Lead, leadership committee, peer mentors, session facilitators, and industry professionals. 

vi) Hybrid offering that combines virtual and physical sessions. The virtual sessions enable us to reach students who study in institutions outside the capital city, while the physical sessions ensure connection and collaboration. 

vii) Impact-driven mentorship, where we measure the program's success based on the Kirkpatrick model, evaluating reaction (immediate reception to the training), learning( change in attitude and improved knowledge), behavior (transfer of skills to the workplace), and results (impact on employability and innovation). 

viii) Life-long learning, where we implement an alumni-engagement model that offers need-based training and upskilling to alumni to support career progression.

Video: The Story of KamiLimu

Our solution serves undergraduate students pursuing courses in tech at institutions of higher education in Kenya who face a fast-growing world of technology locally and globally. For instance, Kenya is dubbed the 'Silicon Savannah' partly due to the proliferation of MPesa, the world's largest mobile money platform, government-led initiatives such as the 10-year Digital Masterplan, and an influx of Big Tech companies over the past five years, like Microsoft. Such trends indicate a consistent need for skilled technologists. 

To meet the demand for such talent, Kenya's tertiary education landscape has seen significant growth over the last decades, with 65 approved universities offering at least 136 undergraduate degrees in computing-related courses as of 2023. Yet, even with this myriad of courses, universities do not meet the demands for well-trained tech talent due to challenges such as a) inadequate resources in staffing and technical amenities, b) large classes that reduce personalized support, c) limited career guidance, d) poor pedagogical culture such as limited research engagement among teaching staff, e) the length of time it takes to change curricula; f) most faculty lacking industry experience on what they teach; and g) gender imbalance in computing classrooms that feed into the thinning pipeline of professional computer scientists who are women. Due to these challenges, university students in tech do not receive holistic training that equips them with technical and human skills. Consequently, innovation hubs, coding schools, and BootCamp programs have emerged to fill the skills gap that tech students experience. However, some of these programs target only female students, teach mostly technical skills, require students to leave their university studies, are costly, or are based in towns away from students whose universities are located in rural Kenya. 

These issues indicate that our target population is underserved because they have limited access to holistic education that promotes inclusivity, despite being enrolled at institutions of higher learning. Our solution addresses their needs by:

a) Understanding what skills tech students do not effectively learn from their university curricula. We have achieved this by receiving and incorporating feedback from beneficiaries and mentors, evaluating our programs, learning what competencies are required in the tech industry, and reflecting on documented evidence. 

b) Offering a mentorship program that complements classroom learning and does not replace it. Thus, our beneficiaries experience the benefits of university education while acquiring skills that better prepare them for the industry.

c) Equipping beneficiaries with holistic skills that improve job preparedness, instill human-centered innovation practices, and enhance learning outcomes. 

e) Providing a gender-inclusive environment by ensuring 50% of our selected beneficiaries are female tech students, significantly higher than the ratio in most Kenyan university classrooms offering STEM subjects at 37%. This inclusivity ensures that we empower champions of gender balance, train beneficiaries to build responsible innovations, and promote a culture of a healthy and respectful work environment.

f) Promoting lifelong learning where our beneficiaries apply what they have learned from the program to their work and communities and continually reskill themselves. 

I spent over ten years in Kenya's academia as a lecturer and manager in Computer Science. During this period, I encountered firsthand the challenges that computing students face due to limited resources, rigid curricula, and the increasing demand for holistic 21st-century skills that were not taught within their curricula.

As an undergraduate student in computing at a Kenyan university, I was the only girl in the course. Many years later, the non-inclusivity of female students in tech has not changed much. As an academic in the Kenyan education space for over ten years, I have taught computing classes with no more than 30% of female students. Consequently, I was inspired to become a champion for inclusivity in the Kenyan tech space - having led many initiatives. Further, I am one of the few Kenyan women with a PhD in Computer Science, thus serving as a role model to upcoming female technologists.

In 2016, after receiving various queries from my students on how they could better prepare for the job market, I convened a discussion forum with 38 students from four universities; 34 students were from the institution where I taught, and four from three other institutions were invited by their friends. In this meeting, we discussed their needs for out-of-classroom support, which surfaced in their need for mentorship across four areas: personal and professional skills, innovation to build solutions, scholarship to apply for funding, and increased immersion in the industry. After this meeting, I invited professionals from the industry to give periodic lectures on the aforementioned topics. This cohort of students formed the first group of the mentorship program. Because of my passion for ensuring gender-inclusivity, this cohort and subsequent ones comprised a balanced ratio of male and female students. 

Five years later, in 2021, I resigned from my role in academia to continue growing the program, then a registered non-profit, and to immerse myself further in the tech industry through my work with the Mozilla Foundation, where I work directly with tech university educators to inculcate responsible computing in their curricula. This work gives me access to hundreds of university students, thus better understanding their needs. 

Since 2018, KamiLimu has used a committee model to manage the program's operations. The committee comprises alumni of the organization, themselves current or former university students in tech, and industry professionals who provide input, ideas, and implementation of all the aspects of the mentorship program. Further, the program lead relies on advisors and consultants who are industry leaders, such as the vice chancellor of universities and business founders, to offer guidance on implementing effective structures. For instance, through visionary guidance, we designed, reviewed, and launched our first 5-year strategic plan in March 2024. Similarly, in March 2024, we launched our redesigned mentorship curricula for the undergraduate track that inculcated reviews from our alumni, former mentors, academics, and industry professionals, thus coalescing seven years of lessons and feedback with community input toward a suitable and impactful model. 

Our solution is at the pilot stage. We have a 7-year track record of implementing it in the Kenyan community while collaborating with hundreds of industry partners, impacting beneficiaries who are technology students, and contributing to holistic talent in the tech ecosystem. To sustain the program's activities, we have designed and implemented an alumni contribution model, hosted paid-for workshops for industry professionals, and partnered with tech companies who supported us as donors. We have just launched a five-year strategic plan and a reimagined stakeholder-driven mentorship curriculum. 

We are still iterating on our business models to find the most sustainable ways of supporting the company. We have also implemented our core solution in just one community - undergraduate tech students in Kenya - and look to expand to other communities. We have also worked with limited resources to deliver the mentorship model. However, we have achieved notable steps and milestones, demonstrating that with support, we can progress to the growth stage. 

Our accomplishments are outlined below. 

Registered non-profit company 

KamiLimu was legally registered as a non-profit company in 2019 and validated by TechSoup, the nonprofit international network of non-governmental organizations. Here is our company's registration certificate. And here is the non-profit validation by TechSoup. 

Implemented an evidence-based structured mentorship curriculum 

In the first seven years (2016-2023), we implemented a stakeholder-driven mentorship curriculum whose topics were based on the needs of tech students, input from our industry partners, and documented evidence of feedback from employers. After each cohort, we implemented small changes to the delivery model based on feedback from the previous cohort. In 2023, to prepare for the program's growth, we worked on a 5-year strategic plan that called for reimagining the curriculum. Therefore, we considered the consolidated feedback and lessons gained from the previous seven years into a new curriculum draft. To strengthen the new curriculum, we engaged 13 external reviewers across three focus groups - one with alumni from the program, one with our former mentors, and one with other industry practitioners together with academics in computing.  The result was a new curriculum that combined years of lessons, input from the tech industry, and documented needs for skills that would nurture employability and innovation and enhance student learning outcomes. This new mentorship curriculum was launched in March 2024 and is implemented with our current cohort of beneficiaries. 

Inspired by demand

Since 2016, we have received applications from 759 students in 55 tertiary institutions in Kenya who are interested in joining the mentorship program. This level of interest shows that tech students in the country recognize that they need additional skills that would make them industry-ready beyond what they learn in the classroom. 

Impacted hundreds of beneficiaries

Of the 759 applicants, we have selected and served 271 beneficiaries from 27 universities. Each year, we accept one cohort of beneficiaries, each consisting of at most 40 mentees, for personalized and effective support. Seven cohorts have graduated from the program since 2016. In 2024, we selected 38 students from 18 universities in the second month of the eighth cohort and will complete the program in October 2024. A new application cycle will open in September for students who wish to apply to the ninth cohort that will commence in March 2025.  

Formed industry collaborations

To deliver the mentorship curriculum, we partner with industry professionals and companies throughout the eight months of the program. Since 2016, we have worked with 132 professional mentors and 64 peer mentors and partnered with 20 organizations. We also partner with tech companies who support our beneficiaries to design and build human-centered innovations. For example, in 2023, we partnered with a local tech startup, Yatsa, where our beneficiaries used their tech tools to enhance their data science and AI skills. 

Sustained beneficiaries' engagement with the program

We have recorded an average attendance rate of 98% and a retention rate of 97%, with mentees showing a high engagement rate throughout the eight months of the program. Given that our beneficiaries are university students, this engagement rate is remarkable, considering their other commitments. 

Spurred tech innovations and startups

One of our main deliverables from the mentorship model is students who utilize human-centered design to build end-to-end tech solutions that solve some of our most pressing socioeconomic issues. Some of these solutions end up as startups. For example, two beneficiaries won the 2020 Red Bull Basement Innovation country-level competition, where they built a gamified application to preserve culture. Also, four of our beneficiaries won seed funding from Mozilla for a machine-learning recommendation system that supports high school students in making the best choices for university courses. These students designed and built this innovation as part of our training in Innovation. In 2024, Positive Sum Africa, a company showcasing the stories of African innovators and founders, was created by one of our alumni and receives mentorship and incubation support from our organization. 

Nurtured employability

The skills that students learn at KamiLimu are transferable to the modern-day workplace. For example, six of our alumni have been hired by global tech companies. 

Contributed to the scientific community through research and showcasing our impact

We have published two peer-reviewed research papers at renowned computing conferences on the mentorship model and its impact. 

1. A Structured Mentorship Model for Computer Science University Students in Kenya. Presented at the 2019 Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) conference.

2. Nurturing Employability using Structured Mentorship for Tech Students in Kenya. Presented at the 2022 International Conference of Education, Research, and Innovation.

We have also been featured on platforms such as VOGUE and Built in Africa. 

Won awards

We have received two international and one regional award in the last four years.

1. In 2020, we emerged as the continental winners at the Reimagine Education Awards and Conference with the Africa Gold Award and the Silver Award in the Nurturing Employability category.

2. In 2022, we were shortlisted and later won the Changing Lives Award at the premier East Africa Com regional conference in Technology and Telecommunications. 

While we have a seven-year track record, we have mostly worked with limited resources. Further, the first three years of the mentorship program were mostly experimental. For example, it was only in 2018 that the company name 'KamiLimu' was coined. The MIT Solve community can help us overcome various barriers.

1. Financial

While we have implemented models for raising income, like alumni who contribute back to the program, the amounts raised do not serve the full needs of the program. Further, while we have received donations from companies like Microsoft and Mozilla Foundation, these amounts have been just enough to facilitate the training events and no more. Due to the limited financial resources, we do not have our own space, which we can use to deepen the program's impact. Further, we have not been able to hire and sustain full-time mentors and employees who could further strengthen the program's growth. We will gain from increased access to social impact investors who could sustainably support our work.

2. Business Model

We envision growing the company to one that offers various mentorship models besides the undergraduate track based on the industry's demand and inquiries we have received. These include an early-career upskilling track and a postgraduate track as paid-for services. We also plan to implement a hiring model where companies hire interns and early-career talent directly from us on a paid-for-service basis. The MIT Solve community can support us in designing such models that could lead to financial sustainability. 

3. Technology 

We envision building a mentorship learning management tool using the requirements data we have collected. This platform will support better mentee management, gamification, monitoring of learning progress, and increased personalized support. 

4. Innovations

Our beneficiaries build tech innovations to solve some of our most pressing socioeconomic issues. We envision becoming an incubation hub that turns these innovations into market-ready products, with some becoming tech startups. Being part of MIT Solve could enlighten us on becoming a successful innovation incubator and link us to other social entrepreneurs who have successfully translated student innovations into impactful products. 

5. Monitoring and Evaluation

To add to the impact assessment that we have conducted so far, we would like to measure nuanced metrics such as a) the impact of the out-of-classroom mentorship model on student learning outcomes at their universities and b) the rate of employability between students who join KamiLimu and those who do not. Thus, being part of MIT Solve would help us deepen our impact measurement practice.

6. Board Development and Employee Acquisition 

So far, we have relied on our external advisors (leaders in the Kenyan education and tech sectors) for strategic planning and implementation. We are now ready to form a formal non-profit board, which will guide us in the growth phase and support the structures required in employee acquisition and retention. 

7. Global Exposure

We would gain from increased media exposure and inspire others who wish to create programs that complement classroom learning, even within resource-constrained settings. 

1. KamiLimu offers the only structured mentorship program of its kind in Kenya, as there is currently no company that offers a similar solution that complements classroom learning specifically for university students in tech-aligned fields through consistent structured mentorship.

2. Our solution is demand-driven based on statistical evidence, student needs, industry reports, Kenya’s Vision 2030, and a 13-person peer review community. Thus, we fill an existing gap between what is taught in the classroom and what is required in the innovation and employment industry. 

3. We complement classroom learning and do not replace it. Thus, mentees can benefit from what they learn in the classroom and other social gains of being in a university community, with skills learned directly from industry experts to become more globally competitive than students who do not go through such a program. 

4. We offer one of the fewest mentorship programs that maintain a 50-50 gender balance in the composition of beneficiaries, thus truly representing the students in higher learning institutions. In comparison, several other mentorship programs focus on women in tech or are imbalanced in gender. Thus, we provide a space where female and male beneficiaries can learn to collaborate and work together as they transition to the industry and become champions of gender balance. 

5. Our solution is an innovative stakeholder-driven mentorship curriculum for tech students that:

   1. Offers holistic upskilling in personal development to strengthen capabilities such as communicating one's science, professional development that includes preparation for job interviews, innovation, and industry-relevant ICT skills such as using design thinking to solve problems using relevant technologies like Machine Learning and AI, training on how to write winning funding applications, and community engagement by immersion in the local and global tech industry. Following this holistic model, and by not just focusing on tech skills, we nurture employability and enhance student learning outcomes. 
   2. Simulates real-world scenarios that aim to prepare students for what happens in society. For example, the mentees apply for a mock job and then are shortlisted and interviewed as they would in the real job market. Also, the mentees pitch for funding for their innovations to industry judges as they would in real-world fundraising situations. 
   3. Is multi-layered in the levels of mentorship that one beneficiary receives. Each beneficiary receives five sources of mentorship from the Program Lead, session facilitators, peer mentors, professional mentors, and alumni. By implementing a multi-thronged approach to mentorship, we ensure that beneficiaries are exposed to different types of expertise, can validate what they learn from multiple sources, and receive exhaustive feedback. 
   4. Is collaborative by combining the expertise of various academic and industry professionals from different fields.
   5. Measures the impact from the first day to post-completion. 
   6. Has a model that can scale to accommodate students from various fields and can be replicated in any region of the world. 
6. Is research-driven by grounding mentorship on computing frameworks toward sound scientific publications and community-driven content. We catalyze broader impact by consistently publishing our model and its impact by inspiring other educators and computer scientists.  

Not being sufficiently skilled for the job market is a challenge faced by many Kenyan undergraduate students in tech because of limited training in human and industry-relevant technical skills in the classroom. The results are job unpreparedness, increased time between graduation and earning gainful employment, slow career progression, slow economic independence, retraining costs for employers, and reduction of impactful socio-economic innovations. These issues point to a need for upskilling models that offer holistic learning to nurture employability and enhance student learning outcomes. 

KamiLimu provides a stakeholder-driven structured mentorship curriculum that complements classroom learning for undergraduate tech students. The curriculum offers training in personal development, professional development, innovation, industry-relevant ICT skills, scholarship, and community engagement. The activities that we engage in to upskill beneficiaries in these areas include:

• Curriculum development and implementation. 
• Selection of and training mentees.
• Selection of and working with mentors.
• Utilizing a physical space for in-person sessions. 
• Utilizing technology to offer virtual sessions, facilitate program and resource management, apply gamification in mentee engagement, conduct impact measurement, and enhance industry-relevant ICT skills.
• Funding acquisition by applying to grants, implementing income-generating models, and sustaining financial integrity. 

By engaging in these activities, our short-term outcomes are fourfold:

•  Increasing skills across these six areas.
•  Human-centered tech products by beneficiaries. 
• Beneficiaries apply skills in at least one real-world opportunity, such as a job or scholarship application, during their training.
• Increased connection between mentees and industry.

These short-term outcomes link to our medium-term outcomes of:

• Beneficiaries using learned skills in learning and work.
• Designed innovations attract users, incubation, or seed funding.
• Successful outcomes after using their learning skills in job, scholarship, and fellowship applications. 
• Alumni of the program become peer and professional mentors.

These medium-term goals link to our long-term goals of:

• Increasing the number of employers and innovators who seek talent directly from the program, driven by their satisfaction with the quality of our beneficiaries.
• Positive feedback from employers and partners who hire our beneficiaries.
• Innovations designed by beneficiaries during the program become startups or impactful market products. 
• Increasing the quality of the mentorship model.
• Alumni becoming leaders in their fields.
• Increasing the access to quality mentorship by Kenyan students and professionals in tech.
• Reducing the skills gap between classroom learning and industry competitiveness in tech. 
• Expanding the mentorship model to all counties in Kenya, in the region, and globally.

To test links between our goals, we utilize a robust research-based framework and a monitoring and evaluation plan thus:

a) Many research papers have been written on the skills gap between classroom learning and industry competitiveness in Kenya and across several regions globally.

b) We have conducted surveys among university students in Kenya to understand their needs for mentorship. This is an example of a data set from one of our surveys. 

c) We utilize the Kirkpatrick evaluation model to test if our structured mentorship model nurtures employability and enhances students' learning outcomes. This process is described in more detail in the next section. 

We derive our impact goals and indicators from the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

SDG 4: Quality Education

Goal: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Indicator: Substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. 

SDG 5: Gender Equality

Goal: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Indicator: Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women. 

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Goal: Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.

Indicator: Substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education, or training.

To measure our progress toward achieving these indicators, we implement the following impact measurement model. 

Impact Measurement Model

The mentorship program’s impact is evaluated using Kirkpatrick’s model, which is popular for its robustness and simplicity. The model outlines four levels of evaluation - reaction, learning, behavior, and results. A criticism of
the Kirkpatrick model is the tendency for evaluations to address the lower levels of the model (reaction and learning) while ignoring the higher level. To cater for this limitation, we measure our impact across all the four levels.

a) We measure reaction by evaluating immediate reception to the training, impressions, and feelings. We achieve this by examining the eight metrics: number of beneficiaries, gender-inclusion ratio among beneficiaries, number of mentors, number of training sessions, mentee feedback after each training sessions, beneficiary retention, attendance rate, and mentee satisfaction. 

b) We measure learning by evaluating changes in attitude and improved knowledge. We achieve this by examining the level of skills acquisition at the end of the training and comparing pre-post program skills assessment.

c) We measure behavior by evaluating the transfer of learned skills to the workplace, school, and community. We achieve this by examining the program's influence on job applications, career progression, and university learning. 

d) We measure results by evaluating the program's impact on learning and employability. We achieve this by examining the overall quality and usefulness of the program as indicated by beneficiaries, employment opportunities earned by beneficiaries, and feedback from employers who hire our alumni.

KamiLimu utilizes various technologies to offer its solution, as described below.

1. Scientific frameworks

We utilize the social constructivism framework that underlies the importance of collaboration and interaction in learning. This theory also emphasizes the need for scaffolding or supporting the mentees to acquire new concepts in their mentorship experience. We also utilize the Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate the impact of our solution. 

2. Process and resource management

We utilize the robust Google Workspace kit for companies that offer myriad tools for our operations and processes. We use Google Forms and spreadsheets for mentor and mentee applications and feedback collection, basic and advanced Excel formulas to analyse impact results, and Google Drive to store all the training materials whose links we share with our beneficiaries. We utilize Canva and Slack for internal communications to support presentation design. We use Publuu to share larger documents in a presentable format. 

3. Hybrid training model

To implement our hybrid training delivery model that combines both physical and virtual sessions, we use Google Meet and Zoom. All virtual sessions are recorded, and these recordings are shared with mentees for their reference and learning. The hybrid model increases the accessibility to our beneficiaries because we can serve students from universities that are not based in the capital city, where we are headquartered. 

4. Gamification model

To enhance mentee participation and retention, we apply a gamified approach where session attendance is calculated using a point-based system where mentees earn points when they attend all the sessions in the curricula. Further, to encourage mentees to apply what they learn in the community and to real-world applications, they earn points when they submit job and scholarship applications and attend community events. Advanced Excel formulae automatically calculate and add these points to a mentee's attendance tracking. The output is displayed on a personal mentee dashboard where they and their mentors can track their progress and offer personalized support. 

5. Human-centered design to build tech innovations. 

Under the ICT and Innovation pillars of our mentorship model, mentees are trained on industry-relevant skills across four tech fields - Cybersecurity, Data Science, Mobile Development, and Web Development. Once they acquire these skills, they utilize them to build solutions in the Innovation track after undergoing training on using Design Thinking to identify a viable problem and to ideate a potential solution. These innovations are then hosted and shared openly on GitHub. For example, this is a project achieved by one of our beneficiaries, and this is a LinkedIn write-up on another beneficiary innovation project. 

These numbers reflect our status in 2024. 

Part-time staff: 2 (Founder and Intern)

Volunteer staff: 6 ( alumni members who form the management committee with the following roles - Content Creator, Events and Partnership Lead, Program Delivery Lead, Innovation and ICT Lead, Mentee Welfare, KamiLimu Fellow)

Volunteer mentors: 12. 

Contractors: 2 (Financial auditor, Photographer)

7 and a half years since September 2016.

Besides ensuring that our beneficiary cohorts apply the 50-50 gender balance, our management committee is diverse. First, KamiLimu's founder is a woman and one of the few Kenyan women with a doctorate in Computer Science. Secondly, the alumni committee has six members - three women and three men. This careful inclusion is deliberate and encased in our committee guidelines on selecting committee members. 

To promote a safe learning environment for all, we have inculcated a company culture fuelled by our core values, one of which is Safe Spaces. By intentionally following this value, we ensure a welcoming environment for our beneficiaries and those who work with us. Also, we have designed working policies that guide mentees and mentors on how to relate professionally, with utmost care and respect for the other. 

To ensure that KamiLimu's environment is non-discriminatory, we conduct an onboarding process for all our mentees where we inform them not just of our values but also that we are a secular space that welcomes people from all religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. Once the mentees have understood these principles, they are invited to sign an acceptance form to continue enhancing this culture. 

Key Partners

• Mentors, Guest Speakers, Tech and Innovation Companies, and Donors.

Customer

Primary beneficiaries: Undergraduate tech students.

Secondary beneficiaries: Tech companies looking to hire early-career talent.

Value Propositions

Primary beneficiary value proposition 

KamiLimu delivers a structured mentorship model that upskills undergraduate tech students with holistic expertise that nurtures human and technical skills for sustainable success in learning and careers.

Secondary beneficiary value proposition

Reduce financial and time costs in hiring and retraining tech talent while increasing the impact of new hires on companies' goals. 

Key Activities

• Onboarding mentees and mentors.
• Designing and launching curriculum.
• Training on curriculum topics.
• Supporting mentors and guest speakers to offer training.
• Evaluating impact. 

Key Resources

• Mentors.
• Mentees.
• Physical space.
• Funding. 
• Technology.
• Website - www.kamilimu.org.

Channel - How we reach our customers

• Website - www.kamilimu.org.
• Alumni and former mentors.
• Partner companies.
• Social media.
• Word-of-mouth. 

Cost structure - Expenditure areas

• Training sessions.
• Staff.
• Physical space.
• Mentee welfare.
• Contract services.
• Subscriptions.
• Content creation. 

Revenue Streams

• Corporate contributions.
• Grants. 
• Alumni contributions.
• Public individual contributions.
• Professional training workshops. 

Impact Measurement

• Number of beneficiaries who applied.
• Number of beneficiaries selected. 
• Number of mentors and guest speakers engaged. 
• Number and type of companies engaged. 
• Number and type of training sessions offered. 
• Reception to the program. 
• Pre-post skills assessment. 
• Level of skill acquisition. 
• Retention rate. 
• Attendance rate. 
• Session feedback. 
• Application of lessons to real-world opportunities. 
• Impact on employability and learning. 
• Mentee feedback.
• Employer feedback.
• The number of tech innovations produced. 

Financial Processes

We ensure financial integrity through: 

1. Having a company bank account that has two co-signatories. 

2. Utilizing Wave software for invoicing, receipting, and report generation. 

3. We store expense receipts in Google Drive.  

4. Since 2022, we engaged Prolific Accontants firm to audit our accounts. For example, this is the audit confirmation page for 2022. 

These processes ensure that we implement financial sustainability with integrity. 

How we have funded our work to date

Corporate contributions

We have received funding from Microsoft through the Benevity platform, having been nominated for this model by our alumni working at the Microsoft Africa Development Center. In this model, for every hour a Microsoft employee mentors our mentees, Microsoft matches the time with a monetary contribution. Through this model, we received KES 549,948/USD 4,191 in 2023. Here is a Wave-generated report on the same. Also, in 2024, we received an offer of USD 2,500 through Microsoft's Change Agent Program. Here is a copy of the offer email. 

Grants 

We apply for grants from various organizations. For instance, in 2023, we received KES 350,000/USD 2,667 from three companies. Here is the Wave statement showing the breakdown. In 2024, we applied for a grant from the Mozilla Foundation and were awarded USD 8,000, now awaiting contracting and disbursement. 

Alumni contributions

Our alumni who earn employment give back to the program in cash and kind. For example, In 2023, alumni contributed KES 286,699/USD 2,185 via a monthly or one-off contribution model.

Public individual contributions

We receive donations from the general public, thus showing the community goodwill we have earned. For example, in 2023, we received KES 238,773/USD 1,819 from individuals who supported the program.

Professional training workshops 

In the past, we have held public, professional training in Scholarship writing, attracting individuals who wish to pursue postgraduate studies and various fellowships. Those interested in these workshops purchase a ticket whose proceeds go to supporting the program. For example, in 2022, we generated KES118,500/USD 900 from one workshop. 

How we plan to fund our work going forward

We intend to continue implementing sound financial processes and hiring a financial officer part-time or full-time. We will also continue implementing the aforementioned income-generating models. In addition to these, we envision raising funds through:

1. A tech-partnership model, where we collaborate with tech companies who give us access to their products to try out in our ICT tracks as a means of product-testing-as-a-service. We have trialed this model with a local startup, Falu. 

2. A hiring model where companies hire entry-level talent directly from us, paying a premium. We have tested this model locally with a tech startup.

3. Corporate training: drawing from the lessons from our professional training workshops, we wish to curate tailor-made curricula for corporate needs. 

4.  Paid-for mentorship tracks for Early-career graduates and postgraduate students. 

5. Incubation hub, where we support the innovations our beneficiaries build to be market-ready, potentially leading to startups partnering with us to contribute a percentage of their revenue back to the hub.