By Eddah Waithaka
Salome Posho walked into Carrefour supermarket late last year doing what millions of Kenyan parents do each term: restocking pens and essentials for her daughter.
Two weeks later, a call came. She almost dismissed it as a mistake. She had won KSh 100,000 in school fees.
“I didn’t believe it,” said Posho, an accountant and mother of two—one in university, one in junior high. “I had to call the supermarket myself to confirm.”
Her win, part of BIC and Carrefour Kenya’s Back-to-School campaign, arrived as households across the country grapple with rising education costs under the Competency-Based Curriculum. Another parent, Esther Muriuki, also benefited.
The campaign reflects a growing shift, retailers and manufacturers now step into spaces once reserved for governments and donors, aligning commerce with community relief.
For Posho, the impact is straightforward. “It means one less thing to worry about,” she said. “It means my children can focus on school.”Sometimes, the path forward begins with something as ordinary as buying a pen.
