Renowned American actress Salma Hayek has congratulated Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) Founder and CEO Dr Kennedy Odede after being listed among the 100 most influential people of 2024 by Time Magazine.
Salma said Odede is an inspiring leader of the current generation and a beacon of hope to the hopeless.
“Congratulations Kennedy Odede when I lose hope that things can’t change and we’re stuck as a society, I think of you and that gives me hope because you are living proof that anything is possible,” Hayek posted on her Instagram account.
She added:
“I hope that your well-deserved place on TIME’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World will allow more dreamers like me to find your story and the work you do with SHOFCO.”
While authoring a review on Odede’s work on Time’s website, Salma said she has never seen a person who has made an impressive change in his or her community like him.
“I have done fieldwork all across the world—in South America, Central America, North America, the Middle East, India, and Africa. Even after working in Mother Teresa’s hospices in Calcutta, I can tell you the person who has most impressed me with their ability to make change is Kennedy Odede,” she stated.
She further described the SHOFCO founder as an unstoppable force that takes on any challenge.
“There is no challenge he will not take on. He is an unstoppable force for justice. This dream of hope that started more than 20 years ago in his home in Kibera has now reached more than 3 million Kenyans and is rapidly becoming a blueprint that will one day, hopefully, reach the world—a movement for change led by the people themselves,” she wrote.
The actress joined other world leaders and organisations who have poured praises on Odede who was listed alongside Kenya’s President William Ruto in the announcement made on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
“Congratulations to my wonderful friend Kennedy Odede on his well-deserved inclusion in TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People! I am thrilled to support and champion his work with Shofco and for true community-led change in Kenya,” Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State, wrote on X.
On their part, the Hilton Foundation said SHOFCO has transformed informal settlements across Kenya.
“Join us in congratulating Kennedy Odede, founder of SHOFCO, one of the #TIME100 most influential people in the world! The 2018 #HiltonPrize Laureate SHOFCO has transformed urban informal settlements in Kenya, helping thousands build healthier & happier lives,” the Foundation tweeted.
Other institutions that congratulated Dr. Odede include The Aspen Institute, Wesleyan University (his alma mater) and Global Alliance for Communities among many others.
Odede expressed gratitude for his milestone saying his dream has come true.
"I'm honoured to be featured on Time's 100 Most Influential People list. Twenty years ago, I dreamt of bringing change to my community. This recognition reaffirms that together, we are unstoppable," he said.
Odede founded SHOFCO in 2004 with a soccer ball and Sh20 in Kibera slums in Nairobi and it has now expanded across Kenya, serving over three million people directly.
The organisation addresses community challenges through various courses such as access to health, WASH, community advocacy platforms, education and sustainable livelihoods programmes.
