Kennedy Odede

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.