The Safaricom Academy is a 2 year Masters degree program established to meet the emerging needs of global telecommunications. Since its inception, the Academy has admitted 142 students with 112 of them receiving full sponsorships from Safaricom. The first group of 89 students have successfully completed the course and will be awarded a Masters of Science in Mobile Telecommunications and Innovation (MSc MTI).
Through the Safaricom Innovation Board, students were able to interact with different stakeholders in application development and innovation in Kenya. This allowed application developers to receive guidance on how to refine and commercialize their applications.
The course which was developed jointly by Safaricom Limited and Strathmore University has been facilitated for Kshs. 90million. The Academy’s long term view is to create a critical mass of highly skilled telecommunications specialists in Kenya. According to Prof. John Odhiambo, Strathmore’s Vice Chancellor, the program is a good start in positioning Kenya as the ICT hub for the continent.