2015 M.I.C Honorees
Edwin Karuga
Founding Father, EACC
Impact: Leadership
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When it comes to leadership no one epitomizes the requisite qualities espoused and promoted by Men Impact Change (MIC) better than Edwin Karuga. He is a married father of two. He is also an accountant by training whose specialty includes but is not limited to process improvement, technology integration and resource planning. He is the founder and Chairman of East Africa Chamber of Commerce of which MIC is a member. He is an investor with a diversified portfolio that includes real estate holdings in Texas and as far away as East Africa. He also supplies construction equipment to East African companies. He is currently working on a myriad of projects to help companies address expansion needs and tap global markets. One of his notable achievements as chairman is promoting women empowerment through trade and community initiatives.
Busy as he is he still makes time for his other three passions, golf, travel and community empowerment projects. You ask him and he will tell you faith without action is ineffective. Every person should see themselves as a brand and value it.
Edwin Karuga is the quintessential classic man. In spite of his remarkable success he still refers to himself as the simple guy from Nyahururu Kenya. To MIC he is a perfect example of men impacting change! We would like to honor Edwin for his great contribution in the community and for his leadership. He stands tall as a good example for all young men to emulate.
Benjamin A Onyango
Hollywood actor
Impact: Performing Arts
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He has rubbed shoulders with Hollywood A list of actors like Bruce Willis , Leonardo De Caprio amongst others. He has starred in Blockbuster movies like Tears of The Sun, God's NOT Dead and Inception. Benjamin A. Onyango and standing six feet one, he cuts an imposing figure on screen whether playing the tortured former Ghanian army captain exiled to the US in the movie Kwame, as Colonel Emanuel Okeze in Tears of the Sun or as the visiting African missionary Reverend Jude in God's NOT dead. In 2009 he won Grand Jury Award for Best Actor in Kwame. Before Hollywood came knocking, Benjamin Ochieng was in the technology industry having graduated from California State University with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and a diploma in Microsoft Certified Systems Engineering from Integrated Digital Technologies (IDT). Benjamin takes great pride in having survived the transition from Kenya to the States. It was not easy he admits. He arrived in the US alone with no support system. He struggled to pay his way through college barely surviving in a world that was strange to him then. He admits he got caught up in the credit card and bills hand- to mouth situation and that it took him a long time to learn how to spend and save money. He wants others to avoid the same pitfalls for they stay with you a long time. He regrets not being able to build his mother a home back in Kenya before she passed.
Besides acting Benjamin oversees a summer and winter camp in Van Nuys California which he started with his wife to help children with special needs,especially youths on the Autism Spectrum, transition well from high school to college through music,dance and drama. For more information on the camp visit http://www.upendolearningcenter.org
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His advice to young men, "Anything is possible if you don't give up no matter how bad the situation is. Persistence is Key to success." As we look forward to God's NOT Dead 2 in April 2016, Men impact change would like to salute Benjamin Ochieng for Impacting the world through film and for being a role model worth emulating!
Sam Mwangi
Founder, Global Fatherhood Foundation – GFF
Impact : Philanthropy
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There is a saying the heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature. No one understands that more than Sam Mwangi Sr. He is the executive director of the Global Fatherhood Foundation - GFF. He is a fatherhood advocate and mentor whose passion is to empower fathers to negotiate institutional, emotional and societal obstacles. Himself a husband and father of three, has worked relentlessly on issues close to fatherhood bringing young adults and men together for mentorship and coaching and crafted community programs that address everything from health issues and referrals, drug prevention programs and programs that encourage students to remain in school. Sam Mwangi Sr is a graduate of Strathmore University and Kenya Institute of Management. He has a bachelors degree from Metropolitan State University in the Twin Cities.
His past accomplishments include but are not limited to being a Big Brother Big Sister mentor, speaker at Brother's Keeper , at Jamuhuri Day 2014 and working with an Ebola foundation to help stem the outbreak. On Thanksgiving Day Men Impact Change would like to honor and salute Sam Mwangi Sr. for his community service and for highlighting and working to address the issues that affect fatherhood. Through his works he has become the real masterpiece.