Kennedy Odede is the Founder and CEO of 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 localize aid 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 17 slums and fostering partnerships to deliver essential services to support them.
He is the co-author of the New York Times Bestselling book Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss and Hope in African Slum, which he wrote with his wife and business partner, Jessica Posner Odede. His work has been featured by President Bill Clinton, and on multiple occasions by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times.
