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The following biographies have been approved for use and were last updated in August 2024.
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Kennedy Odede is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SHOFCO, Kenya’s largest community-based organization, and one of Africa’s most esteemed social entrepreneurs. He is best known for his award-winning work to transform the lives of slum residents and direct resources and decision-making power to local community organizations.
Kennedy Odede is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SHOFCO, Kenya’s largest community-based organization, and one of Africa’s most esteemed social entrepreneurs. He is best known for his award-winning work to transform the lives of slum residents and direct resources and decision-making power to local community organizations. Kennedy has been named in the TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people in 2024, as Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year and has served the USAID Advisory Committee, the UN International Commission for Financing of Global Education Opportunities and as a Fellow with Aspen Institute and Echoing Green. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Wesleyan University.
Kennedy Odede is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at SHOFCO, Kenya’s largest grassroots movement, and one of Africa’s most esteemed social entrepreneurs and community organizers. He is best known for his award-winning work to transform the lives of slum residents and direct resources and decision-making power to local community organizations.
Kennedy became a street-child at the age of 10 and lived in the Kibera Slum for 23 years. During this time, he experienced extreme poverty first hand, but also witnessed the palpable hope that persists in slums and recognized that people sought something different for themselves, their families and their communities. Through earning $1 for 10 hours of work at a factory, Kennedy managed to save 20 cents to buy a soccer ball, which he used to bring community members together, and, with that, SHOFCO was born.
Today, SHOFCO impacts more than 2.4 million people each year in Kenya by organizing and strengthening community groups across 68 sites and fostering partnerships to deliver essential services to support them.
In 2024, Kennedy was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. In addition, he has been appointed by administrator Samantha Power to the USAID Advisory Committee and has served as a Fellow with Humanity in Action, Aspen Institute and Echoing Green. Kennedy is also a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader and a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. Prior to this, he served on the United Nations International Commission for Financing of Global Education Opportunities, and on the Board of Directors of Wesleyan University.
Kennedy is the co-author of the New York Times Best Seller, Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss and Hope in African Slum, which he wrote with his wife, Jessica Posner Odede. His work has been featured by President Bill Clinton, and on multiple occasions by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times.
Kennedy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Wesleyan University.
Personal story
Kennedy became a street child at the age of 10 and lived in the Kibera Slum for 23 years. During this time, he experienced extreme poverty, violence, a lack of opportunity and deep gender inequality.
However, Kennedy also witnessed the palpable hope that persists in slums and recognized that people sought something different for themselves, their families and their communities. Visionaries like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela showed him that great systemic change can come from within. Women like Kennedy’s mother inspired him to build the solutions to urban poverty through addressing one of its core obstacles—the prohibitive level of gender inequality.
Through earning $1 for 10 hours of work at a factory, he managed to save 20 cents to buy a soccer ball, which he used to bring community members together. After playing soccer, he would sit down with his friends to speak about the challenges in the community and devise solutions, together, in a safe and enjoyable environment. In 2004, SHOFCO was born as a result.
In 2007, Kennedy met Jessica Posner, a bright and driven American student studying abroad, who today is his wife. Together they devised SHOFCO’s holistic model and grew the organization from a school for girls to one that serves over 2.4 million people. Bolstered by grassroots knowledge, they have dedicated their lives to bringing hope to communities in Kenya.
Awards
Kennedy Odede has received the following awards and titles:
- 2024 TIME100 Most Influential People
- 2023 TIME100 Impact Africa Award
- 2022 Schwab Foundation Social Innovator of the Year
- 2022 Top 100 Influential Kenyans, Kenyans.co.ke
- 2021 East Africa Philanthropy Network Jury Award
- 2020 Head of State Commendation (HSC) from President Uhuru Kenyatta for the role played in helping the slum communities avert the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2019 UBS Global Visionary Award
- 2018 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize (SHOFCO)
- 2014 Forbes under 30 list for top Social Entrepreneurs
Awarded positions
Kennedy has served as an advisor, fellow or member of the the following:
- The USAID Advisory Committee, appointed by administrator Samantha Power
- Americares Board of Directors
- The United Nations International Commission for Financing of Global Education Opportunities
- The Board of Directors of Wesleyan University
- Kenya’s National COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund
- President William Ruto’s cabinet, as part of the ongoing slum upgrading program across Kenya
- The Kenyan Government National COVID-19 Community Engagement task force, with the UN, UN-Habitat, OCHA and Amref
- Humanity in Action Senior Fellow
- Aspen Institute Fellow
- Echoing Green Fellow
- Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum
- Obama Foundation Africa Leader
- Member of the Clinton Global Initiative
Op-eds
Kennedy has penned numerous op-eds featured in international media outlets, including:
- International aid must shift toward community-based organizations | Fortune Magazine, May 2024
- Wake up, Davos… global leaders must think local to solve the world’s problems | The Guardian, January 2023
- COP 27 left out Africans, but climate progress still possible | Devex, November 2022
- UK Aid cuts make it vital to address anti-black bias in funding | The Guardian, September 2021
- Closing the race gap in philanthropy demands radical candor | The Guardian, September 2020
- We’re taking matters into our own hands: bracing for impact in Kenya | The Guardian, April 2020
- I spent 21 years of my life angry before I realized we in the slums must lead change | The Guardian, August 2019
- What a Kenyan Slum can teach America about politics | New York Times, November 2018
- Terrorism’s Fertile Ground | New York Times, January 2014
- Slumdog Tourism | New York Times, August 2010
Featured
Kennedy & SHOFCO have been featured in numerous local and international media outlets, including:
- How One NGO Flipped Philanthropy On Its Head To Create Better Results | Forbes
- This Kenyan Slum Has Something to Teach the World | New York Times
- Kennedy Odede is building community power in Kenya | TIME
- SHOFCO’s Kennedy Odede on grassroots movements’ funding | Devex
- Valuing local knowledge and solutions for SDG progress | Brookings Institution
- African non-profit leaders with localized solutions | CNN Changemakers
- What will coronavirus do to one of Africa’s largest slums? | Fast Company
- This Advocate Is Empowering Youth Across Kenya’s Slums Through Education | Global Citizen
- Bringing Hope to Africa’s Largest Slum | Huffpost
- 30 Under 30 – Social Entrepreneurs (2014) | Forbes
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Portraits
Kennedy in action
