M-PESA Foundation's 100 Million Shillings Boost For Starehe Girls

The M-PESA foundation has invested Kshs.100 million for the construction of infrastructure and the purchase of equipment for the Starehe Girls Centre 
The Foundation funded the construction and equipment of 8 classrooms and a dormitory at the cost of Kshs.52.5 million. The M-PESA Foundation has also set aside a further Kshs.18 million for the construction of a waste and water treatment plant and Kshs.30 million for a sports centre. 

Michael Joseph, M-PESA Foundation Chairman said, “Despite having minimal infrastructure, Starehe Girls Centre has continued to build a solid name for itself, and produce solid academic results. We however realised that the progress and growth of the school and its students was being constrained by inadequate infrastructure hence our involvement. It is our hope therefore that this investment will help propel Starehe Girls to the next level.” 

Registered as a charitable trust in 2010, the M-PESA foundation focuses on large scale, long term projects in the areas of Education, Environment and Health. The M-PESA foundation has previously funded the Nairobi Greenline, a project aimed at fencing 30km of the Nairobi National Park and fencing and biodiversity conservation of the Mau Eburu forest. Plans are underway for the M-PESA Foundation to launch a maternal health initiative. 

Thanking the M-PESA Foundation for its support, the Director of the Starehe Girls Centre Margaret Wanjohi noted that, “Before the girls occupied these classes and dormitory towards the end of last year, we were using any available space and even had a tent that we were using as a classroom. But now we are sufficiently accommodated.” 

Notes to the editor 
About M-PESA Foundation

• The M-PESA Foundation was registered as a charitable trust three years ago with the core objective of partnering with Kenyans on large scale and long term high impact social projects.
• The M-PESA Foundation aims to promote education, health and environmental conservation for the social and economic benefit of the people of Kenya, and to share the benefits of developments in mobile communications technology that relate to social and economic development.
• We have been involved in various activities around the country since inception such as the fencing and conservation of the Nairobi National Park through the Nairobi Green Line at a cost of Kshs.44 million; the fencing and bio diversity conservation of the Mau Eburu forest at Kshs.155 million and now this investment to the Starehe Girls Centre of Kshs.100 million.
• The M-PESA Foundation is a separate entity from the Safaricom Foundation. The two do not work in competition; but they complement each other. Safaricom Foundation will continue to focus on multiple projects at the micro level whereas the M-PESA Foundation will deal with fewer, larger scale and higher impact projects.