When we talk about young people leading the health sector in the region, the name Ogweno Stephen often comes up a lot especially when looking at the field of non-communicable diseases. But Ogweno Stephen’s impact goes just beyond health into leadership and entrepreneurship and in this article, we will discover what more is there to this young leader Ogweno Stephen.
Education
Ogweno Stephen was born in February 28 1996 and had his early up bringing in the lake side city of Kisumu. He studied his primary school in Greenview Academy, but later transferred schools to Xavierian Primary School in Kisumu where he did is Kenya Certificate Of Primary School Education exams and passed well in 2010.Between 2010 and 2011 Ogweno joined Emmanuels Computer College to learn computer studies and fundamentals and graduated with a certificate before he later joined Kanyawanga High School where he graduated in 2014 having passed the Kenya Certificate Of Secondary Education exams. Ogweno Stephen latter joined Kenyatta University in 2015 then got a scholarship to study at university of Cambridge in 2017 where he graduated with certificate in Sustainability Leadership and came back and concluded his undergraduate in Population health in 2019 at Kenyatta University. In 2020 Ogweno received the Commonwealth Scholarship to study Masters In Public Health with a specialization in Global Health at the University Of Manchester and is set to graduate in 2023.
Impact in the health sector
Ogweno was born with childhood obesity which was left untreated for a long time leading to the development of other health conditions including gastrointestinal reflux disorder and oral health challenges. Its in high school that he received his first real help tackling childhood obesity and he actively stated to engage in sporting activities to improve on his physical health and fitness. Between 2014 and 2016, Ogweno lost 3 close people to him to stroke and diabetes. This affected his mental health status and when he was called to the university to study Information Technology, Ogweno decided to change courses and focus on Population Health to learn about these conditions with the aim of going back and educating his communities. In the same year 2016, Ogweno formed his first company Stowelink Inc which was developed to focus on education advocacy and innovation in the non-communicable diseases space in Kenya. He implemented his first major project on cancer sensitization educational and training which led to his first major recognition by the local media earning him a feature on the Daily nation newspaper. Over the years, Stowelink has grown from a tiny organization into a large organization that has implemented 7 major projects in 10 countries in Africa and touched over 5 million people’s lives.
Besides his work at Stowelink, Ogweno also sits in various national and global boards advising on strategy and implementation of health programmes mostly with a focus on non-communicable diseases and innovation. These include sitting in the advisory boards for the global NCD Alliance, the World Obesity Federation and World Health Organizations NCD Labs programme. Ogweno has been time and again recognized as the next frontier in global health research having published 7 scientific research articles, 6 policy briefs and opinion pieces and presented at multiple local and global conferences. Ogweno Stephen has often represented Kenya in the leading global health conferences including in 2020 when he represented Kenya at the 5th Commonwealth Nurses And Midwives Conference and made a presentation at the Royal College Of Physicians. In 2022, he represented Kenya at the World Heart Summit in Geneva.
Impact in the leadership and entrepreneurship space
Besides his passion for health, Ogweno has also a deep-seated passion in leadership and entrepreneurship and he believes that its these two components that will lead to the transformation of the youth and society at large. Ogweno Stephen is the founder and co-founder of several ventures including the Kreative Hub, Info4food Social Enterprise, Legacy Leadership Africa and Lifesten Health just to mention a few. His experiences in starting and running successful ventures in Africa is documented in detail in his 6th and latest book Practical Skills For Entrepreneurial Success.
Business aside, Ogweno Stephen passes his knowledge of successes and failures in starting and running businesses in Africa through a set of online courses and more than that he runs a mentorship, leadership and entrepreneurship training programmes for young people like him through legacy leadership Africa. When it comes to publications Ogweno has written 6 books on total including the best seller We Have A Dream, The Drug Free Youth, a childrems book – Stories By The Fireplace and off course his latest and most comprehensive book on his life lessons in entrepreneurship, Practical Skills For Entrepreneurial Success.
Awards and recognitions.
Ogweno Stephen is a multi-award winning entrepreneur having received various awards and global recognition for his works. Some of the awards he has been able to receive include, winning the Health Innovation Project Of The Year in the Quality Health Care Kenyan Awards in 2022, the World Health Organizations HIDEYO NOGUCHI SCHOLARSHIP award 2020, winner Young Company Of The Year Awards in 2019 and winner 254 YOUTH ENTREPRENUERSHIP AWARDS – HEALTH CATEGORY in 2019. More than that he has received local and global recognition including being listed as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Young Leaders In Africa in 2020 and being Amongst The Top 35 Under 35 Youths Of The Year In Kenya in 2021. Global organizations like the One Young World, the United Nations Youth Envoy and even the Young Africa Leadership Initiative have al recognized him as a trailblazer and leader in the region.
Conclusion
In a world where continue to face challenges, more young people are needed to pick up the pace and join in creating a better country and continent. Its young leaders like Ogweno Stephen that will ensure that the world is a much better place. Catch up with Ogweno on his website at www.ogwenostephen.com
