100 YOUTH RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS

100 YOUTH RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS WORTH KES 5 MILLION TO TRAIN IN ANIMATION, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

By Beverlyn Naliaka

100 youth have received scholarships to

advance skills in animation, software

engineering and artificial intelligence

through a partnership between Family

Bank and Adanian Labs.

Speaking during the commissioning of

the beneficiaries of the ICT project

Family Bank CEO Rebecca Mbithi noted,

“There is no industry that is alive to

the digital revolution like the banking

sector. The COVID pandemic and

innovations in the sector such as

mobile money have been key accelerators

in the uptake of digitization in Kenya.

We believe that through these

scholarships we can build capacity for

our youth in key skills that will add

value to the digital economy.”

The five-month-long training program

seeks to drive the growth of the

creative and tech industries that are

experiencing rapid growth globally in

both entertainment and commercial

value. The training collaborates with

both local and international trainers

from the U.S.A, U.K., among other

countries to bridge the skill gap,

build robust solutions and deploy smart

solutions.

“We are looking to spur the creation of

over 300 startups in Africa by

creating a movement of young people who

will transform this continent and in

turn own value and create more jobs.

This can only happen through a mental

shift to believe enough that we can do

formidable, phenomenal things,” said

Adanian Lab CEO & Founder John Kamara.

The Treasurer of the Association of

Animation Artistes Kenya and the Lead

Faculty at Africa Digital Media

Institute Dennis Mbuthia further added,

“I am more confident that when Disney

and other productions outside Kenya

knock at the Association’s door, we can

confidently say here’s our talent and

local content. This is a great

opportunity for us to be stewards of

African content that can be taken up

not only just here in Kenya but

globally.”

Ada Labs Africa is a smart venture

building hub with a mission to build,

incubate and launch impact-driven

technology companies and entrepreneurs

working to solve some of Africa’s most

pertinent challenges. Ada Labs uses

smart technologies (AI and Blockchain)

as building blocks to create solutions

that are SDG focused, commercially

viable and scalable across Africa and

other parts of the world. Currently,

Ada Labs has built 13 companies

including in AgriTech, HealthTech,

WomenTech, FinTech, AdTech, SMETech and

other industries; has launched 2

centres of excellencies AI Center of

Excellence for Artificial Intelligence

and The Africa Block Chain Center for

Blockchain Technology. Ada Labs is

headquartered in Nairobi Kenya, with a

presence in Nigeria, Zambia, South

Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and The

United Kingdom.

The Family Group Foundation was

established by an associated group of

companies namely Family Bank, Kenya

Orient Insurance and Daykio

Plantations. It seeks to empower

families by catalyzing transformative

change for wealth creation by building

a more inclusive society through

sustainable community investment

programmes in the areas of education,

health, agriculture, youth empowerment

and entrepreneurship development.

The Family Group Foundation is

deliberate in its strategy execution,

more so within the global context

occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, so

that we can build a healthier, more

resilient and sustainable world and

deliver real-world benefit to global

challenges.

Family Bank’s 2020 –2024 Strategic

Plan, dubbed ‘take-off’ is aligned to

13 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) and the United

Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Finance Initiative on Responsible

Banking and Sustainable Financing aimed

at delivering value and creation of a

sustainable future for all. We took a

further commitment to undertaking

sustainable and responsible business to

advance inclusive development this

year by being the 4th commercial bank

to officially join the United Nations

Global Compact Network Kenya .