US-Based Kenyan IT Consultant Bags Top Global Education Award

A US-based Kenyan IT consultant has won a top international award for his efforts in promoting education.

The International Council of Educational Professionals (ICEP) named Bob Mwiti of Florida as the winner of the 2021 ICEP Global Impact Award. 

Mwiti is the founder and the managing director of Appstec America Llc, an IT consulting company based in Tampa, Florida.

The award is in recognition of Mwiti’s work through the Kenya Airlift Program, which sponsors brilliant young Kenyans to study master’s programs in IT-related courses in leading US universities.

The program is a partnership between Appstec America and Abogeta Education and Development Sacco (ABEDS), a Kenyan Sacco formed by Abogeta West MCA DMK Kiogora. Abogeta West is a ward in Meru County, where Mwiti was born and raised.

Early this year, five more students joined various US universities to study master's under the program, which has been described as the modern-day Kennedy Airlift. The total number of students currently attending US universities under the program stands at eight.

In August this year, the program is expected to receive another group of about 10 Kenyan students.

The program helps beneficiaries to get unsecured international student loans of up to $50,000 from a US-based lender, graduate assistantship scholarships, and relocation expenses loans of up to $6,000 from ABEDS Sacco.

The first beneficiaries were Elosy Kagwiria and Neils Karani, who joined the University of South Florida and Illinois State University respectively.

Prospective beneficiaries must have a minimum qualification of a B+ in KCSE and a first degree with at least 2nd Class upper-division.