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Life is somewhat more luminous in Kapiyo these days.
For numerous residents in this rural Kenyan locality, the onset of night used to signify the conclusion of schoolwork and other family endeavors. Now, though, the darkness is penetrated by electric illumination from recently solar-powered residences. Inside, children in this off-grid region can study while parents prolong daily activities beyond twilight, thanks to a project initiated by an MIT mechanical engineering student and supported by the MIT African Students Association (ASA) Impact Fund.
Transformations are also emerging in the agricultural lands of Kashusha in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where another ASA Impact Fund initiative is collaborating with local farmers to develop an energy-efficient mill for corn processing — enhancing value, generating employment, and igniting fresh economic prospects. In a similar vein, efforts are underway to mechanize the processing of locally-grown cashews in the Mtwara region of Tanzania — an Impact Fund initiative designed to boost the earnings of farmers who currently export over 90 percent of their nuts for processing.
Motivated by a commitment from MIT students to translate promising concepts into tangible solutions for individuals in their home nations, the ASA Impact Fund is a student-led initiative that commenced during the 2023-24 academic session. Spearheaded by an alumni board, the fund empowers students to envision, design, and manage projects with social and economic implications in communities throughout Africa.
After funding three initiatives in its inaugural year, the ASA Impact Fund received eight project proposals earlier this year and aims to announce its second round of two to four grants sometime this spring, as stated by Pamela Abede, last year’s fund president. Last year’s allocations totaled around $15,000.
This fund stems from MIT’s African Learning Circle, a seminar open to the entire MIT community where biweekly discussions center on ways to leverage MIT’s educational resources, entrepreneurial ethos, and innovation to enhance lives across the African continent.
“The Impact Fund was established,” states MIT African Students Association president Victory Yinka-Banjo, “to elevate this to the next level … to transition from discussions to action.”
Focused on bridging the gap between the projects envisioned by Learning Circle participants and the resources available to finance them, the ASA Impact Fund “serves as a pathway to assist our members in executing social impact projects on the African continent,” the initiative’s website explains, “thereby merging theoretical insights with practical application in accordance with MIT’s motto.”
The fund’s significance extends to the Cambridge campus as well, claims ASA Impact Fund board member and 2021 MIT alumnus Bolu Akinola.
“You can execute innovative projects anywhere,” remarks Akinola, originally from Nigeria and currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at Harvard University. “Where this is particularly stimulating is in encouraging individuals to return home and positively influence lives back on the African continent.”
MIT-Africa managing director Ari Jacobovits, who assisted students in launching the fund last year, concurs.
“I believe it galvanized the community, uniting people to bridge a programmatic void that had long been perceived as a missed opportunity,” Jacobovits says. “I’m continually impressed by the level of service-oriented mindset ASA members demonstrate towards their home communities. It’s something we should all celebrate and consider integrating into our own communities, no matter where they are.”
Alumni Board president Selam Gano remarks that a significant aspect of the Impact Fund’s allure is the strong ties project applicants maintain with the communities they serve. MIT engineering student Shekina Pita, for instance, hails from Kapiyo and remembers “what it felt like growing up in a place with sporadic electricity,” which “affected every facet of my life and the lives of those around me.” Pita’s personal background and understanding of the community guided her proposal to install solar panels on homes in Kapiyo.
So far, the ASA Impact Fund has funded the installation of solar panels for five households that had been relying on candles to enable their children to study after dark.
“A candle costs 15 Kenyan shillings, and I don’t always have that amount to purchase candles for my children to study. I am thankful for your assistance,” expresses one beneficiary of the Kapiyo solar initiative.
Pita hopes to expand the project, adding 10 homes at a time, and involve some young residents of those homes in apprenticeships for solar panel installation.
“Overall, we strive to strike a balance between projects where we fund tangible solutions to specific community issues — such as a water project or solar energy — and projects with a long-term vision that could evolve into an organization or a business — such as a novel cashew nut processing technique,” states Gano, who implemented projects in his father’s homeland of Ethiopia while studying at MIT. “I take pride in achieving that balance. We believe that community members know best what they require, and it’s wonderful to empower students from those same areas.”
Vivian Chinoda, who secured funding from the ASA Impact Fund and was part of the African Students Association board that founded it, concurs.
“We seek to tackle challenges that may seem trivial without personal experience,” Chinoda explains. “For my friend and me, obtaining funding to travel to Tanzania and drive over 10 hours to converse with isolated small-scale cashew farmers … made a significant impact. We were able to carry out market research and validate our hypotheses on a project idea we developed in our dorm room in ways we would not have otherwise accessed remotely.”
Similarly, Florida Mahano’s project, financed by the Impact Fund, benefits from her background growing up near farms in the DRC. Collaborating with her brother, a mechanical engineer in her community of Bukavu in eastern DRC, Mahano is en route to establishing a processing facility that will cater to the needs of local farmers. Informed by market research with approximately 500 farmers, consumers, and retailers conducted in January, the facility is expected to be operational by summer 2026, states Mahano, who has also received funding from MIT’s Priscilla King Gray (PKG) Public Service Center.
“The ASA Impact Fund was our launching pad,” paving the way for further support, she mentions. “I regard the ASA Impact Fund as incredibly beneficial because it enabled me to bring my vision to fruition.”
Notably, Chinoda emphasizes that the Impact Fund has already achieved early success in cultivating connections between undergraduate students and MIT alumni.
“When we issued the application to form the alumni board, we experienced a swift influx of responses, and it was heartening to observe alumni eagerly willing to be involved and utilize their skill sets and networks to build this initiative from the ground up,” she recounts.
Abede, who is originally from Ghana, hopes to see that enthusiasm persist — enhancing alumni awareness about the fund “to engage more alumni … more alumni on the board and mentoring the students.”
Mentoring is already a vital component of the ASA Impact Fund, Akinola notes. Grantees, she explains, are paired with alumni to guide them in launching their projects.
“This fund could be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the bonds between the alumni community and current students,” Akinola suggests. “I believe there are immense opportunities for funds like this to tap into the MIT alumni network. The true value lies in the advisory aspects — mentoring and coaching current students, facilitating the transfer of skills and resources.”
As more initiatives are proposed and financed each year, the awareness of the ASA Impact Fund among MIT alumni will likely grow, Gano predicts.
“We’ve had just one year of recipients thus far, and all of the projects they’ve executed have been exceptional,” he states. “I believe that even if we maintain this scale, if we can keep the fund sustainable, we can create a genuine lasting influence as students and alumni and forge more partnerships across the continent.”
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