I&M Foundation Five-Year Impact Shows How Quiet Partnerships Can Drive Real Change in Kenya
Not every organization marks its five-year anniversary with fanfare. Some let their work speak for itself. I&M Foundation falls squarely in that second group.
Since 2020, the Foundation has quietly supported projects that don’t chase headlines—but change lives. Backed by 2% of I&M Bank Group’s annual profits before tax, their mission is simple: invest in the kind of long-term change that sticks. And five years in, the results are quietly powerful. The I&M Foundation five-year impact can be felt in classrooms, forests, youth centers, and tech labs across Kenya.
A Forest. And a Future.
Take Ngong Forest. A few years ago, it was under threat—shrinking, neglected, and vulnerable. Today, it’s being restored through a three-year partnership between I&M Foundation and the Kenya Forest Service. The Foundation committed over KES 160 million to the project, but the real story isn’t just about trees.
It’s about jobs. It’s about dignity. It’s about hundreds of locals—from Kibera to Dagoretti—who’ve found paid work restoring land they once watched disappear. That’s what the I&M Foundation five-year impact looks like: ecological wins tied to real livelihoods.
A Foot in the Door
The Foundation has also helped young people get a way in—into tech, into business, into possibility.
In partnership with Moringa School, they’ve funded training for youth in low-income areas to learn software development—real skills, real jobs. And through the Enterprise Challenge, they’ve backed over 1,700 high schoolers with entrepreneurship tools, digital simulations, and startup capital to turn ideas into action.
These aren’t flashy interventions. They’re slow burns. And that’s the point.
Doing It Differently
There’s no shortage of CSR in Kenya. But what makes the I&M Foundation five-year impact stand out is how it happens—through partnerships, not press releases.
Instead of dropping into communities with a prepackaged plan, the Foundation listens. It works with county governments, local NGOs, school networks, and youth groups. It backs what’s already working, and helps it grow. That kind of humility is rare in the corporate philanthropy space.
You’ll find their name on fewer billboards—but more impact on the ground.
What’s Next
As the Foundation looks to its next chapter, the focus stays steady: climate, youth, innovation, and jobs. But there’s also a deeper ambition taking shape—helping shift how we think about giving, and what real impact actually looks like.
It’s not always immediate. It’s not always visible. But it builds. And when you walk through a greener forest or hear a 19-year-old pitch her first business, you feel it.
That’s what five years of quiet, deliberate work looks like. That’s the I&M Foundation five-year impact.
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