121 guests delved into the world of Aiducation and its impact in 2017 at the Impact Dinner in Zurich on October 25 2017. In between dinner and tombola prizes, Dr. Ringier shared her passion for education, AiduAlumnus Obrein Telly shared his past, present and hopes for the future with us, and we got glimpses into two novel academies: the E&Y leadership academy and the Swiss Study Foundation mobility academy. Until next year!

The fourth Impact Dinner brought together 121 people,who support the cause of Aiducation at the Dozentenfoyer of ETH Zurich on the 25th of October.

Guests enjoying the apéro on the terrace of the Dozentenfoyer

We were greeted by Dr. Ellen Ringier who presides over the Stiftung Elternsein, which strives for parent empowerment through education, and who has dedicated the past 25 years to NPOs and NGOs.

“Aid and Education, I share both goals with you, unconditionally and without any restriction!”,

Equipped with the necessary skills at one of Aiducation’s Startup academies, Jimmy Tune developed a splendid idea to run his own start-up: The bicycle courier ”Crosstown Courier”. Three years after founding his business in Mombasa it has developed positively and he is ready to expand. So, he participated at the KCB Lions Den. But let’s shortly look back to the actual business idea of Jimmy and what role of KCB Lions’ Den plays in it. by cb

Crosstown courier LTD is doing deliveries of parcels, mails, lunch, shopping, small boxes and all petty errands from one office to another within the city Mombasa. All this is done by bikes and e-bikes as green entrepreneurship is an important matter for Jimmy. Jimmy founded his business in 2014 and was supported by Aiducation and the Swiss Re Foundation by investing in total CHF 9’502 and equipping Jimmy with the necessary knowledge. With a current monthly revenue of 73’000 KES and with 3 employees his business has become a huge success in Mombasa. And what is the connection to KCB Lions Den?
KCB Lions Den is the official Kenyan version of popular worldwide business format Dragons Den/Shark Tank! It is an opportunity for entrepreneurs who are looking for financial, social and intellectual capital for their innovative Startups to apply. ”Obviously, the perfect opportunity to expand to another city”, must have been Jimmy’s thought and he took the chance. But have a look at the following video (from 11:18min) and see for yourself how Jimmy secured additional support, congratulations!

You can find more information on Crosstown Courier here:

Tuko

Aiducation’s first Blog story on Crosstown

Techmoran

«As a boy I was sleeping with my back on the ground. But I decided that this, “my background”, would not stop me from believing in Kenya and in our ability to grow and develop as a community and country.» With these words Obrein, a 25 year old AiduAlumni from Kenya, inspired the audience of 77 guests at the Impact Dinner on 17th October 2017 at the beautiful, historic location of the Restaurant Schützenhaus in Basel. by cb and fk

Obrein Telly’s speech was one of several highlights of the Aiducation Impact Dinner 2017 in Basel. But let’s start chronologically: The guests of the Impact Dinner where welcomed by beautiful guitar music produced by the young Basel musician Simon Vander Plaetse who was one of many people that donated their time and talent for the evening. Other volunteers of the impact dinner included our AiduAmbassadors Victoria Pao, John Atkin, Markus Rieffel, and Peter Jager as well as Marcelle Santana and Peter Lorenz (the main organizers of the event) and our long-term Aiducator Amelia Meier who acted as the host and moderator of the night. After a brief introduction on Aiducation and its goals, Amelia produced three strange objects: a piece of cheese, a donor’s scholarship certificate, and a crystal ball and asked three of the co-founders of Aiducation to share some background stories from the very early days of Aiducation and also to look a bit ahead on what the future of Aiducation might bring.

After that, the Impact Dinner guests listened to Obrein Telly, one of Aiducation’s first AiduFellows and founding president of the AiduAlumni network. Obrein not only gave us insights into his past and how the scholarship impacted his youth but also what his future plans are.

But Obrein wasn’t the only positively affected person who told us about his experiences with Aiducation. Marcel Hungerbühler from SwissAir Staff Foundation for Children in Need for example talked about the foundation’s history and described the long-standing partnership with Aiducation that has so far lasted over 8 years.

Written by Bryna Teli and Kerstin Hockmann. Edited by Valerie Schoepfer.

AiduAlumni Bryna and Lynda, who are currently doing an internship at Swiss Re in London, visited the Aiducation team in Switzerland last month for an intercultural and social exchange. The highlight of the four-day stay was the General Assembly and Get Together at the HUB in Zurich on 24 June, where the two entrepreneurial ladies talked about their paths of lives with and beyond Aiducation. We aked Bryna to share her experiences of her stay in Switzerland with us.

Summer in Switzerland is good. Meaning its the best! Amazing temperatures (we could all use 30 degrees after a cold winter, couldn’t we?), a swim in Lake Zurich, a cruise in the clear waters; what could be better?

Bryna (left) and Lynda (right) full of energy and excitement for the experiences awaiting them in Switzerland.

But it wasn’t just all play. Lynda and I were visiting the Aiducation office in Switzerland for the Aiducation International general assembly. We had an opportunity to interact with both Aidumakers and Aiducators. Which, if you ask me, is a very important part of the journey. Its not only humbling, but exciting to meet some of the people who made our education a success, and influenced the path our lives take.

The Aiducation Communications team has been hard at work to bring you our Annual Report 2017. AiduFriends, AiduPartneres and AiduMakers will receive a digital copy shorty. Take a first glimpse into the report and enjoy reading an advance publication of our highlights 2016.

• Filipino medical student and AiduAlumna Marie Gene and AiduAlumnus Sora from Kenya visited Switzerland for two weeks and performed an internship at the Gesundheitszentrum Fricktal. Sora also participated in the Career Fair for African Talent in Fribourg.

• AiduAlumna Byrna and Lynda started a one-year internship in various departments of Swiss Re in London.

• Together we awarded 224 scholarships in 2016. Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

• Outstanding KCSE results by our AiduFellows: We are extremely happy that a dazzling 93% of our 123 AiduFellows attained the minimum university entry qualification of C+ and above. Even more, it was a record year of “A’s” of our AiduFellows.

• We held nine successful academies in Kenya and the Philippines together with our partners Lions Club Basel Wenkenhof, Swiss Re and Swiss Re Foundation, Symphasis, FKM Management Consultants, Gemeinde Riehen, Gesundheitszentrum Fricktal and Tarom Foundation (Economy Weeks in the Philippines).

• By the end of 2016, the Start-up Fund had invested into eleven start-ups since its inception in late 2014. Some of them are thriving, others are scratching, some have closed down already. The highlight was the spice producer Taste Afrique/ Chibundiro which received significant media attention when they won the Runner-up award in a Panafrican start-up competition.

• The first Swiss Re Corporate Career Academy with ten companies presenting and offering internships took place in December in Nairobi. It proved to be a fantastic concept that will also be implemented in the future.

• Our homepage is now also available in French:
  www.aiducation.org/fr