Women of Rubies
Tag

Kenyan

Browsing
Nelly Cheboi
In Inspiration By

Meet Nelly Cheboi, The Kenyan Tech Founder And CNN Hero Of The Year

Nelly Cheboi, Kenyan Tech founder was named CNN Hero of the Year in 2022  for her work in building computer labs for Kenyan school children, through her non-profit organization,  TechLit Africa.

Nelly Cheboi
Nelly Cheboi at the Heroes Award

Nelly Cheboi- The Hero

Nelly is a global hero who was recognized and awarded the honor of CNN hero 2022 after her creative thought and effort to make Kenya technologically advanced. Nelly grew up in a poor and poverty-stricken household in rural Kenya and had to go through several rough patches to attain the position she is in right now.

Looking at the condition of people living in her country, she dreamed of doing something good for the community. As she completed her studies in computer engineering as a scholarship student, she started volunteering in several events along with working in the software industry.

Taking The Bold Step

In 2019, Nelly quit her job to establish computer labs for Kenyan school children. Helping the student have good technical knowledge inspired her to develop computer labs for them. To complete her mission, she established TechLit Africa, which helped school children in Kenya by giving them old computers to make the children’s future even brighter.

Acknowledging this great initiative of Nelly, she was picked as the winner of CNN Hero 2022 in the 16th Annual CNN Heroes show, telecasted on December 11 and hosted by Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa. She was voted through online voting and picked as the ultimate winner

Nelly Cheboi net worth will show a tremendous rise of $500,000 after she receives the prize money as CNN Hero 2022.

Childhood Influence

Nelly worked through put her childhood to be a software engineer. She went through a lot of trouble and sleepless nights to get the scholarship and study further. However, after becoming a software engineer, she started her good deeds by establishing community computer labs for Kenyan children with her earned fortune and salary.

Funding

She started her project with her won funding and slowly started getting help from the NGOs and INGOs. The social activist started her educational mission in 2019 and gradually gathered thousands of people to support her initiation. Successfully in 2022, she won the title of CNN Hero 2022 and was awarded an unrestricted grant of $300,000 and supportive services valued at $200,000. Along with it, all the Top 10 candidates also received $10,000. On top of all the amount, this year, Nelly was honored with an additional $100,000 for her life-changing work.

Nelly Cheboi’s Co-founder Husband

Nelly Cheboi is a passionate woman with great vision, married to her husband, Tyler Cinnamon.

Nelly started her life-changing work at a young age and was always supported by her friends and family. Nelly’s husband is her most incredible support system and backbone; he always motivates her to continue her selfless work and joins hands with her. Despite having cultural differences, the couple came out strong and got married.

Tyler is also a software engineer and is the co-founder of the non-profit organization established by Nelly called TecLit Africa. The couple has not revealed much about their relationship but is seen frequently by one another in their Instagram feed and stories. They are yet to start their family. However, they are leading a happy married life together.

 

Nelly Cheboi Parents and Family

Nelly Cheboi comes from a rural Kenya family where her parents raised her and her siblings.

Nelly was born to her mother, Mama Mboga, and was among the three daughters of her family. She came from a poor family background and had seen her mother struggle to raise them. As Nelly grew up in poverty, she knew she had to achieve something to give her family a better life.

Nelly Cheboi and mother
Nelly Cheboi and her mother

She worked hard and completed her studies with a scholarship. So, to get the young children out of poverty, she was inspired by her family to start the initiation of helping everyone.

by
Keep Reading
In Inspiration By

26year Old Female Creates Kenya’s First Digital Car Insurance Company,

Jihan Abass is a 26-year old Kenyan Somali woman in a country that values neither women, Somalis nor youths. Her achievement, founding Kenya’s first digital car insurance company, is therefore that much more formidable. She excelled in an environment where women, Somalis and youths are actively stifled and their voices muffled.

Abass is the founder and CEO of Griffin Insurance. The company released its flagship mobile application on Friday. The app allows customers to buy their insurance policy in less than two minutes. Additionally, Griffin Insurance lets customers pay in instalments and pause coverage if they travel abroad and will process claims in a week rather than the industry standard of 30 days.

When people walk into their offices, they look for the boss, looking right past her. “They would be surprised to see that it was actually me,” Abass told Reuters.

In addition to Griffin Insurance, Abass and her team have another company called Lami that sells the same technology that Griffin Insurance uses so that other businesses can use it to create their own digital insurance products.

Click here to read more

by
Keep Reading
In self development By

DETERMINED 68-YEAR-OLD KENYAN GRANDMOTHER SITS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL LEAVING CERTIFICATE EXAM WITH HER 13-YEAR-OLD GRANDCHILD

A 68-year old Makueni woman who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary (KCPE) exam in 2018 has announced she will proceed to join secondary school irrespective of her age.

Veronica Kaleso sat for the final primary education test at Unoa Primary School and scored 143 marks alongside her 13-year-old granddaughter who beat her by scoring 385 marks in the same exam whose results were released on Monday, November 19.

Kaleso could not hide her joy after scoring the marks which she said surpassed her expectations.

Veronica Kaleso who was a KCPE candidate at Unoa primary school scored 143 marks out of the maximum possible 500.

“I am happy with my results because I did not expect to score those marks, remember I’m old and determined to proceed with education’‘, she said.

The mother of 10 and grandmother of 24 who studied from home despite having registered at Unoa Primary School in Kenya, said she had began plans to ensure she joins high school in 2019 to advance her studies.

“I am determined to join secondary school and perform better. If I excel four years, later I will not hesitate to join university. That is my dream and my age won’t hinder me,” she said.

Kaleso said she dropped out of school when she was a standard five pupil at Kyamuthei Primary School in 1969 for lack of fees.

Speaking in English, a language she said she had begun to master, Kaleso said she went back to school in order to manage her workers who used to take advantage of her illiteracy to swindle resources from her farm. “I am a farm manager and I normally lose a lot of money since my employees and customers steal from me. They take advantage of my illiteracy,” said Kaleso.

 

Credit: legit.ng

by
Keep Reading
In Career Gems By

VICTORIA KIMANI BAGS ENDORSEMENT DEAL WITH MAYBELLINE

Kenyan songstress Victoria Kimani has signed her first ever endorsement deal and it’s with Maybelline. She revealed that she’s the new face of American beauty line, Maybelline.

She made the announcement on Instagram:

“My first Endorsement deal guys! I’m so glad to finally announce that You are looking at The new face, brand Ambassador for MAYBELINE NY – from Kenya 🇰🇪 Indeed… AFRICA to the World! This is such an honor and a beautiful crowning for me because well…. if you know me, you know that I LOVE MAKE UP and a good face beat !! And When it comes to my dreams …. I am known to MAKE IT HAPPEN! Regardless of language, location, time, Rules, obstacles and hurdles that I face… nothing can stand in the way of A girl on a Mission! #Maybeline Thank you to my namesake in Kenya for fighting for me!!!”

by
Keep Reading
In Career Gems By

UNDERPRIVILEGED GIRLS IN KENYA ARE BEING FORCED TO HAVE SEX WITH OLDER MEN IN EXCHANGE FOR SANITARY PADS

Reports from a UNICEF research found that 65% of females in the Kibera slum in Kenya, the largest urban slum in Africa, have at one point traded sex for sanitary products.

The girls are forced to have sex with older men because it is the only way they can access sanitary products due to poverty and the stigma surrounding menstruation.

(Photo: ThisisAfrica)

The research also reports that 54% of Kenyan girls still have problems accessing feminine hygiene products and 22% of schoolgirls still have to buy their own even though the Kenyan government signed a bill into law last year that says girls in public schools will receive free sanitary towels.

90,000 girls in 335 schools in Kenya now have access to safe and clean facilities because of that bill, but there’s clearly still more work to be done. Andrew Trevett, UNICEF Kenya chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, hypothesizes two reasons why girls have to trade sex for sanitary products:

“One obvious reason is poverty – girls and women don’t have the financial means to buy sanitary products. But there is also the issue of supply.

Transactional sex for sanitary items happens because the items are not available in girl’s villages.

In the countryside, girls are faced with no transport and can’t afford a bus fare. In some remote villages, there are no roads and there isn’t a bus service.”

UNICEF found that 7% of women use old cloths, chicken feathers, mud and newspapers in the place of pads or tampons — while some dig a hole in the ground and sit there for days till their period passes.

UNICEF also found that only 50% of girls felt they could openly discuss menstruation at home.

 

Credit: konbini.com

by
Keep Reading
In Career Gems By

GET FAMILIAR WITH ‘AN NISA’, AN ONLINE TAXI-HAILING SERVICE IN KENYA RUN BY WOMEN FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN ONLY

An Nisais an online taxi-hailing service in Kenya run by women that serves female passengers and young children only.

Mehnaz Sarwar (Photo: An Nisa)

An Nisa was founded by Mehnaz Sarwar and she inspired by how she and many women who used cabs in Nairobi were uncomfortable getting into vehicles with unfamiliar men. She said:

“I was always uncomfortable being in a car with someone I didn’t know, especially if it was a male. So I was always in search of a female driver. I realized that a lot of ladies are still in that position.”

Mehnaz started An Nisa to cater to women not just as passengers, but also behind the wheel. Susan Cherotich, one of over 50 female drivers who has signed up on the platform, says it is different from other platforms she has worked for:

“It is long overdue. Now that we have our own app, we run it and especially for us, it is more empowering.”

(Photo: An-Nisa)

And it is, because An Nisa only takes a 10% commission, compared to the 15% to 25% taken by other platforms like Uber and Taxify.

Susan adds:

“Now that the commissions are lower, we’ll be able to earn a bit more. And because most of the riders are ladies, should they all embrace this app, we’ll be able to earn more out of it.”

 

(Photo: An Nisa)

 

Credit: konbini.com

by
Keep Reading