Kennedy Odede, aged 41, is a Kenyan social entrepreneur and the founder of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a grassroots movement that started in the slums of Kibera.
He made history in July 2025 when he was named one of the two recipients of the United Nations Nelson Mandela Prize, an award given every five years to individuals dedicated to the service of humanity.
Born and raised in Kibera, Odede experienced life without basic services, education, or opportunities.
When he was only 10 years old, he left his home and became a street boy in Kibera after experiencing a hostile environment.
After experiencing life in the streets, Kennedy Odede decided to change the course of his life.
Education background of Kennedy Odede
Kennedy approached a Catholic priest, Father Alberto, who helped him enroll at a local school. Despite the hardships, he later earned a scholarship to Wesleyan University in the United States, where he studied sociology and political science.
Later, he landed a job at a factory. He saved money and soon bought a soccer ball for the community, which marked the beginning of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) began, in 2004, with a soccer ball.
Career Information
His career has seen him grow from selling peanuts to founding one of Africa’s largest urban slum empowerment initiatives.
Odede’s transformative work began in 2004 and has since expanded to benefit over 2.4 million people across Kenya.
Besides football tournaments, SHOFCO started bringing the people of Kibera together to interact by doing such things as helping kids in the community to do their homework.
“There is a kind of perception most people have about Kibera, that it is such a violent and dirty place, and what is not, as someone who grew up in Kibera and spent most of his life there, which is one of those things people say but is not true,” Odede said previously in an interview.
In 2010, Kennedy Odede was awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship, which is given to the world’s best emerging social entrepreneurs.
The 2014 People’s Choice Award
He was also named to the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list and won the 2014 People’s Choice Award for Outstanding Social Entrepreneur as well as the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Prize the same year.
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SHOFCO, which Kennedy Odede runs, is now in over 23 slums in the country, impacting over 2 million lives. In 2018, the organization became the youngest-ever to receive the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest humanitarian prize awarded to non–profits that have made extraordinary contributions to alleviate human suffering.
In July 2025, Kennedy Odede was named the 2025 UN Mandela Prize winner.
“I’m truly humbled! When the winners were announced, I had travelled to Botswana, deep in the Okavango Delta, with no internet, no phone signal. When I got back later, my phone was blowing up, calls, messages, congratulatory messages! “What is happening?” I called to confirm the news,” he happily remarked.
Family life
Raised in Kibera, Kennedy Odede reveals that he grew up with a violent stepfather and details of the rest of his family have not been publicised.
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He is married to American co-founder Jessica Posner, with whom he shares a family and professional partnership.
Odede and his wife have three kids, including twins.
“I have lived in the U.S and travelled across Europe and the world, but I will tell you this: there’s no place more amazing than Kibera. The love, the community, the vibe of homeliness and people caring about you that you feel there,” Kennedy Odede said.
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