NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 4 — Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) Founder and CEO Dr. Kennedy Odede has been awarded the 2024 Outstanding Humanitarian Award by Top Charts Africa, based in Nigeria.
The SHOFCO founder was recognized for his role in uplifting the lives of slum dwellers and vulnerable people across 40 counties in Kenya.
“The Outstanding Humanitarian Award category celebrates individuals or organizations that have made exceptional contributions to humanitarian causes,” Top Charts Africa said during the award ceremony.
Dr. Odede was nominated alongside seven other individuals from across Africa, including Osita Obidike of Rebuildx Africa (Liberia), Gerald Abila of Barefoot Law (Uganda), and Otto Orondaam of Slum2School (Nigeria).
Others included Olamilekan Agbeleshela of Laycon Cares Foundation (Nigeria), Somachi Chris Asoluka of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (Nigeria), William Troost-Ekong of the Troost-Ekong Foundation (Nigeria), and Tunde Onakoya of Chess in Slums (Nigeria).
“I’m truly humbled to be awarded the 2024 Outstanding Humanitarian Award by Top Charts Africa in West Africa. I dedicate this award to the communities we serve across Kenya at SHOFCO,” Dr. Odede said after receiving the good news.
This recognition adds to Dr. Odede’s accolades, having received both local and international awards, including TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2024, the 2023 TIME100 Impact Award Africa, the Schwab Social Innovator of the Year 2022, and the East Africa Philanthropy Jury Award, among others.
He founded SHOFCO in 2004 with just a soccer ball and Ksh 20 in the Kibera slums of Nairobi. Today, the organization has expanded across 40 counties in Kenya, serving over six million people annually.
SHOFCO’s approach to community development is holistic, addressing multiple dimensions of poverty and inequality to create lasting change.
Multi-demensional approach
Its programs focus on education, healthcare, water and sanitation, economic empowerment, community mobilization, and youth development, all aimed at improving well-being and opportunities for residents in urban slums and rural areas.
The organization has reached over one million youth through various initiatives, including entrepreneurship training, sports activities, TVET training, and job and internship placements in the past two years.
Under its education program, SHOFCO runs two schools—Kibera School for Girls and Mathare School for Girls—serving a student population of 580.
The eldest of eight children, Dr. Odede experienced extreme poverty and violence. He became a street boy at the age of 10 and later joined a gang. Having struggled to access clean water in the Kibera slums, where piped water was nonexistent, Odede prioritized its provision when he founded SHOFCO.
“We used to walk several kilometers to get water, and most of the time, we suffered from waterborne diseases because the water was contaminated due to underground pipes mixing with raw sewage,” he said in a past interview.
To reduce contamination, SHOFCO, under Odede’s leadership, introduced an aerial water piping system, which currently serves over 250,000 residents of Kibera and Mathare slums in Nairobi. The pipes are connected to 53 water kiosks, allowing residents to access clean water quickly and consistently.
In 2022, SHOFCO’s community-driven model became a benchmark for global NGOs following a case study by the Bridgespan Group, highlighting SHOFCO’s effective, grassroots approach and lasting impact.
Dr. Odede is also a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader, a USAID Advisory Board member, and a winner of the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award, among other recognitions.
He is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum.
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