In any leadership committee, Adan Mohammed’s quiet and unassuming composure is easy enough to draw one’s curiosity. When it’s his turn to speak, Adan’s demeanor changes into one that can easily inspire a crowd to action. Leadership comes effortlessly to Adan, and so does finance.
As a child, Adan’s passion for leadership and finance began thanks to his father who, other than being a teacher, also held various business and administrative positions. “My father was always involved in the community, in fact, he helped construct a well in Wajir County (my family’s traditional home) that’s still in use today,” Adan says. “I had another lightbulb moment when I saw that the President appointed Mr. Ukur Yatani, someone who comes from a similar community background, as Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning.”
From Mombasa to Wajir and back
It was then that Adan began to think more deeply about his path and where he would like to be. But there was a hurdle Adan had to face. Adan’s father passed on in 2009 when Adan was in Grade Four. When the financial burden of taking care of an entire family without their breadwinner became too much to bear, Adan’s family uprooted themselves back to Wajir county. They could not continue to support themselves in Mombasa and hoped that by moving closer to family, they would be able to find help.
Adan sat for his primary school exams in Wajir Primary and thereafter was admitted to Sebunley Secondary School in Wajir. However, his family couldn’t afford his high school education. “We moved to Wajir hoping that we would be closer to our family and find some help. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and I accumulated a lot of school fees arrears.”
As the arrears kept piling up, Adan made the difficult decision to drop out of school at the end of his first year in high school. “At the time I thought that I could drop out of school and go back to Mombasa to look for something to do like casual labor,” he says. “So I came to Mombasa alone and went to live with my aunt and uncle in a place called Maweni in Likoni county.” This is where Adan’s journey with Hatua began.
The light at the end of the tunnel
When he first arrived in Likoni, Adan spent much of his time at Hatua’s Likoni library reading newspapers. With his academic gifts, he found it hard to passively leave his future to chance. Instead, he found an opportunity to share his knowledge by tutoring students who were struggling in Mathematics at the Library. Meanwhile, Adan’s aunt, who noticed his academic capabilities, intervened and helped convince Adan’s uncle to support his high school education.
“Thanks to my aunt I was able to start Form Two at Shika Adabu Secondary School in Likoni. I survived on my uncle’s goodwill and county bursaries up until Form Three. I didn’t get a scholarship when I first applied in Form 2. But the following year, Hatua opened scholarship applications to all high school students irrespective of whether they were just starting high school. I got accepted and joined Hatua in 2017 when I was in Form Three,” Adan says.
From math mentor to leader
Adan’s knack for leadership did not go unseen for long. From the moment he started attending classes at Shika Adabu Secondary School his teachers noticed his talent and made him the class Academic Secretary where his role involved ensuring student attendance and most of all, motivating his peer’s academic performance. His goal at the time was to “revolutionize” his class’ performance in mathematics.
After receiving a Hatua scholarship, Adan had more room to thrive and explore his leadership potential. He steadily earned the trust and respect of his peers which led to his election as the school’s Vice President while in Form Three, a role he held for one year before sitting for his end-of-high school examination.
When he completed high school, Adan applied and was admitted to Gretsa University to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. “I wanted to study commerce because I love maths, and doing things like calculations and metrics really excites me! I believe that life is all about business, so it was a natural choice for me.”
While at university Adan wasted no time in demonstrating his leadership once again. He formed two clubs: The President’s Award, an adventure club whose goal was to help fellow students with their mental health through engaging in outdoor activities, and Counselling Club which directly addressed mental health challenges students faced in campus. “In my first year of university, I had experienced two suicides in campus. Because I’d spent my gap year being trained as a mentor by Hatua, I felt that this was something I could do that would reduce the suicide rates in the school.”
Last year, Adan chose to go back to his high school for his industrial attachment in the school’s accounting department where Adan volunteered to tutor a couple of students whose grades had plummeted. “I was given 20 students and I started a sort of academic movement in the school,” he says. “At 4 pm when I was done being an accountant for the day, I put on my teaching cap and went to tutor these students. After I left I was happy to hear that among the 20 students I tutored, 11 boys and 5 girls made it into university.”
When leadership calls
In January 2022, the call to leadership knocked twice despite Adan’s wish to focus more on his academics in his final year of university. He was elected Chapter leader of Hatua’s Thika/JKUAT Student Union by fellow Hatua beneficiaries. Later he decide to run for Secretary-General of Gretsa University Student Association when his friends’ repeated nudges and votes of confidence finally wore away his initial hesitation. “They actually told me, ‘you deserve the role, and we need you to be our leader,” Adan says.
For now, Adan is using these opportunities as launchpads to realize his dream. “I want to become a governor, cabinet secretary or CEO someday.” For Adan leadership isn’t driven by vain ambition or access to power, it’s about spreading kindness in the world. “I think I would describe myself as an activist – I love humanity and I want to see good things happen to others. Nothing makes me happier than helping other people and seeing them happy.”
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