Friends of Ngong Road

We empower Nairobi children living in poverty to transform their lives through education and support, leading to employment.

Archives for December 2022

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Caroline: Her Graduation Story

Caroline has been able to show resilience all through her studies and has been able to complete her post-secondary education. She joined the program in 2012 as a young girl in grade 6 full of academic aspirations that she has been able to fulfill. 

Caroline was studying at the Kabete National Polytechnic where she was taking a course in social work and community development. The course took 2 years to complete, she completed it in September 2022 and she graduated in December. She has also been able to gain relevant experience through attachments and internships. She was attached at the NRCF offices between September and October 2021 working with the primary department and an internship at the same place for 6 months between April and September 2022 working with the secondary department.

Caroline is currently working with ICEA Lions Group as a salesperson, a position she has been holding since October 2022. She aspires to further her studies as she continues to work as well as a volunteer during the Saturday programs. We wish her all the best!

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First Class Honors

This year has been incredible for us in terms of getting exceptional performances from our students and Sallyanne is one of those students who has made us extremely proud. Sallyanne has become  the first student ever since the organization started to get first class honors! This is the highest achievement ever made by a post-secondary student.

Sallyanne joined Kabarak University in May 2018 and was admitted to the Bachelor of Mass Communication. Her end-of-semester results showed that she was excelling in her studies. In September of 2021, she was attached at a local radio station where she worked for three months and December marked the end of her studies. 

In January 2022, Sallyanne was among the first students to join the TechMates program where she specialized in Digital Marketing. She has since been creating content for both the NRCF and FoNR websites as well as managing the content on both social media pages and she helps in training new Digital Marketing TechMates who join the program. Through the program, she joined Lido Nation, a Cardano staking pool, gaining valuable work experience and networking opportunities.

She works for Lido Nation as a content writer, a website translator, and a social media manager and she is also a trainer for mentees who would like to learn more about Blockchain. She experienced the greatest highlight of her time at Lido Nation when she became a co-proposer in a funded proposal.

Sallyanne graduated on the 16th of December 2022 making her a journalist by profession. She received an award during the annual AGM as the first student to get first-class honors. Her role model is Larry Madowo and she hopes to become an equally great journalist. She has set the pace for our post-secondary students and we hope that many will follow suit. Congratulations Sallyanne!  

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Alumni Employment Update

Alumni Gathering

NRCF Alumni Coordination Department has the goal of ensuring 75% alumni employment annually and has embarked on several activities to prepare for the year 2023. The department has hit the ground running and has made good progress. 

Emmanuel

The Alumni Department has developed strategies and policies for successful alumni engagement including the creation of robust networks with possible employers and partners to support the employment programs and activities.

The programs that are already in the implementation phases include Job Preparedness Skills training, Sales Academy training, Entrepreneurship Skills training, and a Techmate program. We will soon be adding an Apprenticeship program. In addition to these programs, plans are underway to increase alumni engagement through events and gatherings like the annual gathering, an alumni summer camp, and an alumni volunteer program.

Alumni collaborate and legally register as Ngong Road Alumni Youth Group this quarter. The group’s main objective is to raise funds for their business and offer each other psychosocial support.

The employment rate in this stands at 69% for all alumni, with 119 out of 173 having gainful employment as of November this year, according to the alumni annual survey done in July 2022, and unemployment follow-up done in October.

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Annual Appeal

Help us reach our fundraising goal for the year!

This year, we have received our biggest matching gift ever from the Ted and Kathy Truscott Foundation – $100,000! Our goal is to meet the match. This will provide funding for our students in 2023 who will be going back to their regular school schedule after a hectic 3 years due to the COVID pandemic. Our students will finally be going back to camp, engaging in more programs, and needing more support than ever before. 

We have surpassed 90% of our goal so far. THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed! We have $9,000 left to go before December 31st. Every dollar counts. Will you be part of providing Wepowerment to our students next year? 

DONATE HERE

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Karibu Loo Digital Marketing

In an effort to help Karibu Loo Ltd (the for-profit company created by Friends of Ngong Road to provide employment for our graduates and create a revenue source to support our mission) gain more visibility and boost traffic to our refreshed website, we have been running two digital marketing campaigns. The website refresh and ad campaigns are executed by members and graduates of the TechMates training program on our campus in Nairobi.

Google Ads are the cornerstone of our marketing

In March 2021, Karibu Loo launched a Google Ads campaign. The Google Ads program enables users to create online ads that reach targeted audiences interested in the offered products and services.

After a “start-up” period, the campaign was a success, driving a significant increase in call volume and resulting in stronger business performance.

Year-to-date, we have received over one million impressions, garnered over nineteen thousand clicks, and achieved 282 conversions (conversions are artificially depressed because customers are able to call us directly without being measured by Google). Using these metrics, the Google Ads program is Karibu Loo’s most successful digital marketing campaign.

Facebook Ads are proving to be very successful

Karibu Loo began testing Facebook ads in 2021 on its Facebook page.  Ads ran featuring our loos and various offers and headlines (see the three examples below). For very low expenditure ($8.00 – $10.00 USD weekly) we received very satisfactory weekly impressions (between 2000 and 8000), high click-through rates, and several direct contacts. This led us to believe that a full Facebook ads campaign had merit. 

They launched the full Facebook campaign after Kenya’s August 2022 general election. Since its inception, the campaign has contributed significantly to Karibu Loo’s brand visibility. Our own U.S.-based creative genius volunteers, Steve Kotvis and Paul Schupanitz, created the campaign, focusing on our program graduates who work full- or part-time as “Associates” for Karibu Loo. 

With the tagline ‘Use our loos and educate too’ and a photo of Associates/program graduates (see the three examples below). The campaign fueled Karibu Loo’s Facebook growth, gathering 70k users, securing 2k likes, and strengthening community engagement. Most of these ads are reaching 20,000 – 35.000 viewers weekly and generate between 100 and 500 “likes” each. The more people who “like” our page, the easier it is for others to discover our brand.

The TechMate assigned to Karibu Loo (Tabitha) presents the results of both campaigns at our weekly Karibu Loo staff meetings. She, along with other TechMates, refreshed the Karibu Loo website, improved our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) status, and continually refine our Google Ads and keyword usage.

Karibu Loo is very proud of these successful campaigns.