[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Nairobi, 20^th February, 2019. CS Education, Amb. [Dr.] Amina Mohamed today launched the Higher Education Loans Board 2019-2023 Strategic Plan at Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi.

For the last 24 years, HELB has empowered the dreams of more than 820,000 students and disbursed over 90 Billion Kenya Shillings. As at 31^st December, 2018; 436,832 loan accounts worth Kshs. 52.1Billion had matured for repayment, while 383,150 loanees holding Kshs. 37.2 Billion had not matured. A total of 213,067 loanees had cleared their loans worth Kshs. 21.3B. Further, a total of 153,817 accounts valued at Kshs. 24.0B are repaying their loans while 70,008 loanees holding Kshs. 6.8B are in default.The loan portfolio is performing at 70%.

“The new Strategic plan dubbed HELB Agenda 2019-2023 is costed at an estimated KES 90.7B over the 5 year period and envisions a reformed, bolder, agile, customer focused, FINTECH enabled and Risk Intelligent organization which accords HELB Employees a great place to work,” said the CS Education, Amb. [Dr.] Amina Mohamed. Notably, HELB has anchored this new strategy to 4 [four] key Global, Continental and National development agendas namely; The Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The Africa Union (AU) Agenda 2063, Vision 2030 and The Big 4 Agenda.

The pillars in this new plan are: Sustainable Financing Initiatives; FinTech Optimization for Digital Service Delivery; Our People, Governance, Risk & Compliance and Customer Centered Leadership In order to deliver this strategy, the Mission has been defined as Universal financing for Kenyans pursuing Higher Education with the Vision as To provide sustainable finance to Kenyans pursuing Higher Education through mobilization & prudent management of resources and the Values as: Integrity, Innovation, Courtesy and Equity. The overall promise is Empowering Dreams.

HELB Chairman, Hon. Ekwee Ethuro said, “we think HELB is better position to centralize distribution of all funding to students in institutions of higher learning. Funding whether in form of grants, National Government CDF/County bursaries, scholarships or even Corporates who fund students in institutions of higher learning as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility should be channeled through a centralized mechanism such as HELB that is experienced and has infrastructure built over 24 years.”

Achievements in the 2013-2018 Strategic Plan

The 2013-2018 HELB Strategic Plan came to an end with admirable results of over 90% achievement levels. HELB registered a monumental growth in key strategic performance indicators as follows;

1. Balance Sheet Growth from 30B to 74B.
2. Annual loan recovery nearly doubled from 5B Kenya Shillings in 2012 to 4.9B Kenya Shillings in 2018 whilst performing loan portfolio moved from 56% to 72%.
3. University students under funding program moved grew 109,189 to 248,050 with funding budget moving from 6B Kenya Shillings in 2012 to 13.2B Kenya Shillings in 2018 with the number of universities funded moving from 59 to 78 within Kenya and EAC.
4. The Product range grew from the mainstay University Undergraduate Loan to include Technical, Vocational Education & Training [TVET] loans, partner products and loans for salaried students.
5. The 100M Kenya Shillings TVET Bursaries Program benefiting 3,956 students was converted to a revolving loan program amounting to 4B Kenya Shillings benefiting over 60,000 students and TVET colleges under funding program moving from 48 to130.
6. A new growth area introduced was External Resource mobilization aimed at gradually reducing reliance on the Exchequer. There are now 20 Partner Funds under HELB management valued at 88B Kenya Shillings. The flagship partnership with USAID funded HRH Kenya Mechanism and other private sector funders allowed HELB to start the Afya Elimu Fund now worth over 1B Kenya Shillings supporting over 85 Medical Institutions with student numbers under loan program in those institutions moving from 1,692 to over 21,000.
7. To take HELB services closer to Mwananchi, the branch network grew from Nil in 2012 to presence in 24 Huduma Centres in 2018.
8. To improve efficiency and service delivery, Microsoft Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP] and Customer Relationship Management [CRM] systems as well as a modern Contact Centre powered by Cisco Unified Communication System [UCS] were implemented. HELB also leveraged on social media platforms Facebook and Twitter to serve their perpetually youthful customer base.

 The HELB CEO reminded students on the need to #TellTheTruth when applying for HELB Loan. HELB recently embarked on a Means Testing Instrument [MTI] Compliance & Integrity Test for Undergraduate [UG] Loan Applicants. Regrettably, over 27,000 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 First Time UG Loan Applications failed the MTI Compliance & Integrity Test primarily because the Parental Occupation & Family Income stated by these applicants was found to be inconsistent with findings of the data validation process. These students have since been barred from applying for a Subsequent HELB Loan until they correct the Parental Occupation & Family Income status.

The CS called upon all Kenyans who have benefited from HELB loans and are yet to commence repayment to start repaying their loans immediately so as to assist HELB increase the number of students funded thereby progressively implementing universal funding for all Kenyans enrolled in institutions of higher learning with adequate amount to cater for their financial needs.

Kenya Bureau of Standards [KEBS] also presented HELB with the ISO 9001:2015 Certification.

HELB CEO,

Mr. Charles Ringera.

 -ENDS-

Notes to the Editor  About Higher Education Loans Board

The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) is a state body established by an Act of Parliament – CAP 213A in 1995 mandated to  provide loans, bursaries  and scholarships to Kenyans pursuing higher education in recognized Kenyan Universities and Colleges  and to  recover the same after completion of  studies to facilitate establishment of a revolving fund. The Board is therefore well aligned to Chapter 4, Section 43 (1) (f) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, that every person has the right to education.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]