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Safaricom, East Africa’s largest telecom operator, led by Kenyan tycoon Peter Ndegwa, has announced a Ksh30 billion ($232 million) national education investment targeting digital learning, modern infrastructure, and technical training over the next five years.
The new initiative, branded “Citizens of the Future”, will be executed through the M-PESA Foundation and is structured to lift learning outcomes across more than 600 institutions nationwide.
Safaricom invests in Kenya’s next generation
Safaricom says the plan will address Kenya’s biggest pain points: outdated facilities, weak classroom technology, lack of digital-ready teachers, and financing barriers for students.
Over 10,000 scholarships will target senior secondary and tertiary students. The program also commits to building model “schools of the future,” institutions with modern, sustainable, tech-rich infrastructure fully adapted for the digital economy.
Peter Ndegwa said the Ksh30 billion ($232 million) plan is designed to accelerate Kenya’s human capital in a world where tech literacy determines employability.
“We are consolidating our interventions to ease access to education from early learning to technical and vocational training. This first KSh30 billion ($232 million) investment will run over five years,” Ndegwa said.
Safaricom expands economic footprint
Safaricom is one of Africa’s most profitable telecom companies, serving more than 48 million customers across East Africa. The company contributes about 5 percent of Kenya’s GDP through data, telecom, mobile-money and cloud services.
In April, Safaricom announced a $300 million investment in M-PESA 2.0. Last month, the operator disclosed that it spent $777.6 million on local Kenyan suppliers, money that directly supports domestic jobs and manufacturing.
Peter Ndegwa, who owns 6.2 million Safaricom shares, is positioning the company not just as a telecom operator, but as a key driver of national development, with digital education now sitting at the center of Kenya’s economic future.
