Tullow Oil To Start Offering Vocational Training Scholarships Beginning 2015

Tullow Kenya will starting next year expand its annual Tullow Group scholarship scheme (TGSS)to cover vocational training, in a move that will see over a 1000 Kenyans get opportunities to pursue short term courses including welding and carpentry.

Tullow Kenya Country Manager Martin Mbogo says the oil exploration company had renewed its contract with the British Council, the TGSS administrators, who will oversee the expanded scheme.

The new courses to be offered as part of the expanded Tullow Group scholarship scheme will be aimed at those who may have ambitions to apply for the Tullow Masters degree Scholarship but do not necessarily qualify for post graduate education.

“Over and above the job training, these young people will also get basic communications and entrepreneurships skills that will allow them to also participate in the oil and gas sectors either as entrepreneurs or employees. This objective sits within Tullow’s wider goal of increasing the participation of Kenyans in the country’s oil and gas sectors,” said Mr Mbogo.

This year, Tullow Kenya has invested Kshs. 200 million in providing scholarships and bursaries to university, college and secondary school students. In particular, the company has spent Ksh150 million in providing 30 scholarships to postgraduate students as part of the 2014 scholarship scheme.

“The main reason for starting the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme was to bridge the skills gap within the oil and gas sectors in countries where we operate. I am proud to say that since we started the scholarship scheme in 2012, the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme alumni network has become a rich source of specialised skills  for the Kenyan oil and gas sector, producing experts in fields such as oil and gas law, environmental sciences and logistics ,” added Mr Mbogo.

The 30 scholarship awarded this year brings the total numbers of Kenyans awarded the TGSS scholarships since it was started in 2012 to 55.