Kennedy Odede

Kenya

Kennedy is a community organizer working to transform urban slums from urban poverty into urban promise. Kennedy grew up in the Kibera slum, and as a street-boy in Nairobi, taught himself to read and write on the Kenyan streets. Driven by a belief that people can change their own lives, Kennedy founded SHOFCO at age fifteen with twenty-cents and a soccer ball. Today, SHOFCO serves over 220,000 Kenyans across the nation's slums with innovative services such as health care, clean water, financial services, education, and a community organizing platform. Kennedy is a New York Times bestselling author, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and a believer in the power of the urban poor.