By Dannish Odongo

 

Engage, a bi-monthly platform that focuses on the power of engagement to foster learning and transforming hearts, minds and lives celebrated its first anniversary on Saturday at Nairobi’s Braeburn Theater.

Dubbed as Kenya’s local version of TEDx, the latest edition was graced by speakers and artists exploring mostly on the topic of love in honor of the legend of St. Valentine.

Engage is the brain child of Agatha Juma, KEPSA’s head of public private dialogue, and Donald Bosire of CBK who are both Toastmasters (an international club where members develop their leadership and public speaking skills).

“What has been amazing for us is that every speaker, whether it is a publicly recognizable name or not resonates with people in the audience by interpreting the theme of the day using personal stories,” Juma shared with Capital Lifestyle exclusively.

Some compelling personal stories include Neeraj Kamdar, who spoke at Engage 4 about how decisions made by people while carrying out their business affected the course of his life, Ken Njiru who spoke about the good, the bad and the ugly that he encountered on his Mediterranean sailing trip with a group of friends, and Steve Obbayi who attempted to climb Mt Everest twice at Engage 3.

The platform provides an opportunity for ordinary and extraordinary Kenyans to connect by informing, inspiring and influencing others through speech and music.

Engage has hosted speakers such as Ian Mbugua, Sanda Ojiambo (Safaricom head of CSR and Safaricom Foundation), Steve Obbayi (first Kenyan to climb Mt Everest), Kevin Ashley (CEO Java House Africa), Sharon Maviala,  Sitawa Namwalie (UN international consultant), Aleya Kassam, and among others.