Carol Ofafa is spearheading the advent of clean energy in Kisumu and Homa Bay counties. Through E-Safiri, where she is co-founder and CEO, they provide charging stations for electric bikes and tuk-tuks as well as providing cold stores for fish traders.
She followed her engineering dream despite a strong push that she study medicine. “Medicine is all I saw at home and around me. All my family members wanted me to study it. I switched to engineering while at Mary Hill School after I met a professor from JKUAT who encouraged me to pursue engineering after she saw my good grades,” Carol traces her steps.
She earned a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Nairobi and an MSc in the same discipline, and Management from University of Glasgow under a Commonwealth scholarship.
Her life starts at 4am at times. “I plan and diarise everything. I have learned that time is best used when planned for.” Sleep has a central place in her life, saying her daughter is the best version of herself after enough sleep.
"I plan and diarise everything. I have learned that time is best used when planned for."
She believes her natural smarts, gifts and education are not just for her, but also for her community. “I am a product of my community and what I have acquired through their support is greatness. Therefore, giving back is only but a natural stimulus to my success.”
Providing employment and cold storage solutions for fishermen and women in her native Siaya and Kisumu counties is how she pays back her community that she “owes much of my success.”
What is the good engineer learning about herself currently? Carol is learning that she can be very impatient but when one takes time, they derive more value from circumstances, experiences, conversations, goals.
“You really have to be patient.”
-Ndugu Abisai