Funds for enrollment for masters studies

George    Apr 18, 2024

Hi lenders, backers and friends,

I continue to source for funds to be able to achieve my dreams. Please assist me where you can. I am currently in the process of obtaining I-20 so that I can proceed with the next steps.

George    Apr 12, 2024

I am finally admitted with a merit based scholarship. I remember my lower school motto: HARD WORK PAYS. This is out of my hard work and persistent to acquire my masters degree.

George    Apr 12, 2024

Hello lenders and friends,

I am indebted to you all for the support so far since I joined Zidisha in 2016. I have had a tremendous growth to even own lands(3 plots so far worthy at least 1000USD each). I continue to trust on the process to make the future of my family bright. This has been possible through your support and my hard work as I repay the loans while spending my monthly wage to invest on these properties.

George    Apr 6, 2024

Hi Friends and lenders,

Thank you so much for lending me and abandoning me anytime I missed payments. I am glad the loan has helped me achieve a lot and I have completed the payments. May God bless all of you. I look forward to having a mega project.

George    Feb 11, 2024

Adjusting repayment plan as I am held up. I look forward clearing the loan as soon as possible. My next loan would be a mega project. Stay tuned

George    Jan 31, 2024

Hi everyone,

Here comes double celebrations. A pass on the most difficult exam I have ever seen before, and CEI accredited. I am now a Certified EC-COUNCIL Instructor on the following courses which I passed with great scores a while back; CEH, CHFI and CCISO. All my exams are taken from Person Vue or on online proctoring which proves authenticity.

I am now on track to my further studies. I regret this has taken longer time than expected due to my work responsibilities and nature.

• (Comment deleted by author)

  • George    Feb 3, 2024

    Thanks LJ for the wishes and corrections.

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George    Jan 4, 2024

I am trying to prepare for school selection and application process.I would like to apply to just 2 or 3. The main constraints were but not tied to: USA, Cybersecurity, relatively cheap, high employment rate, no racism, supports 8B or Mpower financing. Feel free to guide. The schools are currently ordered by their CoA

George    Jan 4, 2024

Happy new year everyone,

I am minimally adjusting my repayment to be able to finish by the next installment. I rescheduled my exams to 31st of Jan 2023 and wanted to be stress free as I study for my exam. I am still pushing with my business. We are on holiday break till 8th but shifts still exist on our industry. I am however taking any free time to push business forward and as well study. Have a fruitful year and may all your plans for the year get met.

George    Dec 3, 2023

Dear Lenders and Well wishers,

Here is a quick update on my GMAT journey. It's with must regret that my GMAT exam was cancelled a few days to the exam date and the money refunded. The center was no longer available and I was thrown to amaze for a while. At this point I chose to use the funds for a different course called Certified Cybersecurity Technician by EC Council. The course was being on offer.
I am now happy to inform you we now have a new Pearson Vue center in Kenya and I have booked the exam for 31st January 2024, the last day to take the old GMAT version as per GMAC announcement. Please continue wishing me well.

George    Nov 5, 2023

Adjusting repayment plan to cater for my other bills as things are tougher

George    Nov 2, 2023

Hello, I am making a small repayment adjustment to be able to cater my other monthly expenses

George    Jul 26, 2023

Proof of mobile payment. I got a 25% discount on the normal $250 exam fee. It helps though our dollar rate is just too high. I chose to pay for myself as opposed being paid by KAP(Kenya airlift program) as I still have a 500$ balance on the program contribution. This proved to be too much for me to raise at this time. Wishing myself best of lack as GMAT is not a test of how smart you are but how well/fast you can make decisions. Please share with me any relevant materials in your possession about GMAT. Links, Google Drive and so on. You are also welcomed to provide study vouchers :). I am currently using the official mba.com study materials for practice.

George    Jul 26, 2023

Hey lenders and well wishers,

Today I am happy to have booked my GMAT exam date.
Ready for the challenge. I managed to use the funds provided for the purpose. Attached is the receipt and proof of payment

George    Jul 9, 2023

Hey, I am adjusting repayment as business income is low. Planning to pay in the next 2 days

George    Apr 15, 2023

Hello friends and backers,

I am happy to have joined KAP in persuing my masters studies dream. I have already made the program contribution fees $1531. Pending amount is $500. I am also actively studying for GMAT.
Note: Experiencing a problem when I try to add a photo.

• Lotus Flower    Jun 26, 2023

  Hi, George. Wishing you well in your studies, as always. I thought of you and other Zidisha members pursuing I.T., too, when I came across this website while looking for more information after having heard about yet another recent cybersecurity breach that affected multiple businesses, agencies, etc.: www.sentinelone.com/blog/ev... "...The cybersecurity skills shortage is a pressing concern for businesses, with the current shortfall estimated to be [millions of] unfilled positions..." Job security seems assured. Best wishes! :-)

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George    Mar 15, 2023

I am glad my project is now fully funded. I am going to use the funds as earlier stated. I thank all of you for standing up for me. The ball is on my court to study and pass GMAT. I am much motivated despite the much anticipated ground breaking changes to this exam.
I also pledge to keep 100% on time repayment for all installments.

George    Mar 13, 2023

I am adding photos for a small impromptu holiday. I will add the story later. Enjoy the view.

George    Mar 12, 2023

Happy Weekend everyone,

I spend part of my weekend writing about investigation learning material about a famous test hacking site -Tryhackme.com. Here is the Medium link - medium.com/@olooerik/tryhac...

George    Mar 9, 2023

Hello well wishers,
I am still in the process of sourcing funds for my Masters studies.
Detailed below are the choices, advantages and disadvantages, feel free to advise.

1. KAP ( www.kenyaairliftprogram.com...). This is an initiative to fund masters student to universities in USA and Canada. The students get to enroll to a Sacco , The Airlift Sacco (TAS) and pay some contribution in hope to get a relocation loan. They are also required to take GMAT exam and also assisted to apply for mpower and discover loans to fund their masters program. They can also apply for GAs with merit. The program can take longer(1yr+) to succeed getting a school, student loan and relocation visa.

2. The EC-Council university. ECCU announced a 50% scholarship for marginalized countries where Kenyan are eligible. (www.eccu.edu/landing/schola... the mode of delivery is online and flexible I thought this was a good deal. I believe opportunities come and go. ECCU has capped the scholarship application date as 15th March 2023 with a requirement to pay $65 as application fee and $115 as transcript evaluation fee. I am not in a position to raise this fee at the moment. I have however been given a "flexible" monthly payment plan for a 2 years self sponsored MSc in Digital forensics. Despite the fact that I love traveling and exploring, the online masters program seems better as I have credits to transfer and I can continue working as I source to fund my studies as opposed to physical studies in a new country. I am therefore requesting for funding otherwise I will have to forego this better choice and continue my struggle with choice 1.

I have attached images of my KAP profile and ECCU self sponsored payment plan assuming I get the scholarship.

• Admin    Mar 10, 2023

  Hi George,
  
  I did some research and would suggest being careful with these offers. Here are some things I found:
  
  Kenya Airlift Program: "Applicants are expected to pay at least USD 1110 upfront ( $10 application, $1100 Sacco deposit) just to be accepted into the program. USD 600 is non refundable. From there applicants are then required to pass a GMAT/GRE exam and from there they can begin their college application.
  NOTE: This is not a scholarship but a loan from MPOWER finance which the student is required to pay back!
  
  The caveat is that, if you cannot pass the GMAT/GRE or are unable to get a study visa from the US embassy or if you want out, then your $600 is gone, up in flames. They will only refund 500dollars.
  
  I have seen the program featured even on local news outlets like NTV & Citizen and a lot of activities on Facebook. Doing some research on the 'successful applicants' , I found many fake names and fake profiles. Other than that I admit haven't found anything substantial." www.kenyatalk.com/index.php...
  
  EC-Council: "EC Council and their certs are terrible. ECCU is not a real school and anyone considering it would be better off going to pretty much any other institution in the world." www.reddit.com/r/AskNetsec/...
  
  Unfortunately, many degree programs that advertise to international students are scams. See www.usnews.com/higher-educa...
  
  The above article covers US programs only. A list of international accreditation organizations can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_....

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  • George    Mar 11, 2023

    Hi Julia, thanks for insights.
    
    I cannot protect any of the institutions. For KAP the telegram link is open for anyone and currently has over 10,000 users. For active members we have over 1000 and several who have already graduated since operation. I believe the research is outdated and again every thing has advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is unable to secure a visa. I heard they are considering Canada schools to close this disadvantage.
    For ECCU, the domain ends with .edu. I didn't seem to get them in any on the accreditation organization they claim to be. The research also seems to be outdated although I would wonder why the last comments on Reddit are being deleted/removed. Having no single graduate known also sounds suspicious. I can comfortably ignore this one. Maybe if someone knows more information and can guide us to the right direction, it would be pleasure.

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George    Mar 8, 2023

Hello Lenders,

Thanks for the current progress in lending me. I am looking for exact move in to a immediate enrollment. I am also considering an online masters program as opposed to physical due to visa approval/denial rate/delays in our Kenyan embassy. Please see attached inquiry offer with a 50% scholarship if one qualifies.