• Daystar University
• 10 Nov, 2023

By Sosnes Olindo

A third born in the family of four, raised at Lakisama area of Nairobi and studied at Dandora Secondary School, Washington Mageto shares his story of resilience in pursuit of higher education at Daystar University.

After the passing on of his father in 2004 and his mother in 2009, and with no other relative around, Master Mageto recalls that the church became his immediate family. “After the demise of my parents, I had no one to turn to, the church at All Saints Cathedral and the clergy became my immediate family;” it is here I started self-realization and soul searching after I lost most of my friends to bad company. It was time to give my life to Christ,” he added.

While serving in Church at all Saints Cathedral Nairobi, Washington was inspired by the then serving Provost who had enrolled at Daystar to pursue a Master of Arts Programme in Counseling Psychology. He remembered vividly as a youth an in-charge of Sound Engineering, projections and videography at the church being encouraged to drop an application form to seek an admission to join Daystar University.

“Armed with my admission letter to Daystar University and with a passion in computers, after prayers and encouragements and support from the church, I was ready to report at Daystar University Athi, River Campus. On the eve-of-reporting, I was attacked along Jogoo Road, Nairobi and all his valuables taken, including the fare to facilitate his reporting. However, this did not hinder me, I walked all the way from Umoja Area of Nairobi. On arriving at Daystar University, Nairobi

Campus, I was well received and directed to board the bus waiting for the new students. I never shared my predicament until now, God has been gracious,” said Washington.

“When I joined Daystar University Athi River Campus, this became my second home, I continued to serve under Daystar Christian Fellowship (DCF) and at Daystar University Student Association (DUSA) as chair of Academic Affairs where we revived a number of student-led-dormant clubs such as Daystar Information Technology Association-DITA which was directly under my program. I had applied and admitted to pursue a degree programme in Management Information System (MIS), which I had changed to a degree in Applied Computer Science due to my interest and love of tech-world,” indicated Washington Mageto.

Daystar University Athi River Campus provided me with the right environment to be creative, innovative to build the person I have become. As DITA officials, and by the help of then supportive Head of Department, Mr. Fred Ogore, we had a working space at the School of Science, where we were mentored, created committees to work with, had an incubation hub, assigned mentees on cyber security, digital forensic and programming.

“We were able to create such good projects that one was sold outside the country and in 2015 we had 12 sites, some by the government of Kenya, real estate, lending commerce and in the ministry of youth that helped in profiling the youth in the country for better engagement. This was an eye- opener for our team that tech-world pays”, he said.

In November 2016, we had an entry for a competition where we emerged top as Tech-founders of the year award and most innovative founder of the year award. This made us feature in local dailies and opportunity to work with ITIPS ventures which is a software and web development company in Kenya to create a Dunia Business Services based in Congo. Other projects under trial was a Data Insurance for Campus students which had picked up but due to lack of a 300k Capital and issues of regulations with Insurance Regulatory Authority, we had to shelf the idea and return the funds for those who had invested with us. At this point, PLATEDAL came as an idea to cover the MagTech Inc which I had started together with a colleague and an official at Daystar Information Technology Association.

In 2018, we approached a Logistics firm for food logistics mobile application for android phones which was native for 2years, together with fellow Daystarians, we sort to expand the business model, with one of our colleagues who had visited Tokyo, Japan, we incorporated horticulture. This too faced bottle-necks that prompted our piloting of PLATEDEL around COVID-19 time. Around this time, there was worldwide lock-down and most of our perishable horticulture products that were due for export never took place and we ended up making a donation to Children’s homes within Nairobi. Despite this set-back and with less movement and people ordering services on-line both food and medication, in 2020 April, with a strong will and zeal, we managed to make our first transactions across Nairobi with the first 160 deliveries in a single day. We saw the need to expand and include food items, LPG gas, Oil beauty Products and fashion which could easily be acquired via our online company. This has led to more partners incorporated in our company from Zimbabwe and South Africa as we work on a last mile delivery for products in pharmaceuticals and horticulture.

In giving back to my community, I have been a Vice-chair of FOYA, Alumni of Young Entrepreneurs in Africa, worked and supported Child Space organization with Jenga Hustle initiative within Lakisama of Nairobi, Clean Energy initiative and a platform to sell products, easily access loans for development and I have fairly seen over 200 households and sorted life groups as a board member of Children Community Based Organization within Kilifi County where we educated and provided basic necessities for Child Support.

“As I conclude my studies at Daystar University, I testify that this has been a journey of faith, right environment and right networks while I pursued my studies. My biggest assets have been formidable networks like the ones I found at Daystar University, volunteerism in offering skills for free within Community Based Organization- CBOs, Church, Companies and such like ventures. I Challenge my peers in the tech-world to avail their skill to serve, build a free website for friend or an organization who are starting a business as they grow, they market your skill, get a good business plan and with God’s help, your dreams will be a reality”, said Mageto.