Starehe launches endowment fund

By Ramadhan Rajab

Starehe Boys Centre has launched an endowment fund to cushion its funding from any financial uncertainties.

Speaking on Monday during the 50th Anniversary celebrations at a Nairobi Hotel, Starehe management committee chairman Patrick Obath said they resorted to endowment fund after realising that the current financing method was unsustainable.

"We needed a long term solution and only the endowment support will give us a sustained lease of life," Obath said.

He said the new financing model would boost its revenue capacity from the funds’ investment to meet the costs of non-fee paying students and further cushion them from any risks that can be caused by falling off donors due to the global financial meltdown.

Obath said that they had already got the pledges from UK friends of the school in raising the funds towards the kitty.

"We have started mobilising the Alumni of Starehe for their support to ensure the success of this venture," he said.

President Kibaki, who is also the school patron, will officially launch the endowment fund branded "Griffin Endowment Fund", at State House on June 19, this year.

Speaking during the same occasion, acting Starehe Boys’ Centre Director, Joseph Gikubu said the institution is not in a financial fix but is looking for sustainable options to steer them through the next 50 years.

About 70 percent of Starehe students are non-fee while the remaining 30 percent pay fees.

The school was founded in 1959 as a youth club for street boys either orphaned or displaced by the struggle for freedom in Kenya. The first intake comprised 17 boys housed in two tins huts.

It now has a student population of 889, with total admission of 12883 since 1959 and 11,980 as December 2006 student alumni.

The school, associated with its founder, the late Geoffrey Griffin, is known for its academic excellence.