How a 20-year-old Kenyan student founded a nonprofit that provides 100 million meals

In Kenya, more than 600,000 children queue for lunch every day through Food4Education, an organization founded by Wawira Njiru. Each child wears a brightly colored wristband that they tap to receive a hot meal.

Since its founding, the nonprofit organization has provided more than 100 million meals to Kenyan students, starting with a simple meal that Njiru made herself for 80 people. When Njiru was a 20-year-old international student studying in Australia, he realized how a small amount of money easily available in that country could make a big difference in his native Kenya.

She came up with the idea for a local fundraiser and cooked for 80 people. As a meal, it was a failure. “I cooked all the food…and it wasn’t good food. No, it was burnt rice….It’s hard to cook for 80 people,” she recalled in an interview with Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the “CNBC Changemakers and Power Players” podcast.

But the concept worked. “People gave me $20 each. I raised $1,250 and started feeding 25 children in my community. That was the beginning of Food4Education,” Njiru said.

Njiru was featured on the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.

Today, what looks like a simple cashless payment represents much more.

“When I feed someone, the first thing I do and my first motivation is to give that person dignity,” she said.

Njiru calls her approach “manipulating dignity.”

Every element of Food4Education, from the kitchen to the payment system, is built in such a way that no one feels like a target of charity.

“Our children, our parents, we treat them like customers,” she said. “They are not beneficiaries, because they are contributing a subsidized amount and have ownership rights.”

While parents may not be able to provide enough money for food, Njiru realized early on that she could use Kenya’s popular mobile money platform to replenish her small digital wallet with the money she could afford for her children. These accounts are connected to a wristband, which students scan during their lunch break. This program combines these parent donations with government support and philanthropy. The system creates a sense of participation, she says, allowing families to feel like they’re part of the community solution, rather than passive recipients of assistance.

“Children are at the heart of this financing scheme, and we’re all on board to make sure children are fed. By introducing smart ways in which governments can contribute, parents can contribute and charities can cover the gaps, we can really change the face of school meals,” Njiru said.

That sense of community extends to the local kitchens that make the meals, part of what Njiru calls an “ecosystem of economic benefits” that includes a supplier called Mary, which started in 2012 as a non-profit that delivered meals on motorcycles and now has a network of 65 trucks. “Empowering people like Mary is at the heart of Food4Education,” she said.

The majority of the staff working at the organization are also parents of the children being fed. “So when they cook a meal, when they serve a meal, they’re serving their community, and there’s a great sense of pride in that,” Njiru said. “They’re treated like heroes because the people there know that these are the people who bring us food every day. And I think local ownership, coming from a place and serving that place, is really, really important,” she added.

Food4Education’s use of technology is as much about psychology as it is about logistics. The same digital tools that make payments easy also give your team the data to manage your kitchen more efficiently.

“In all our kitchens, we have almost zero waste through the use of technology,” Njiru said, explaining that they can accurately measure the number of meals needed each day.

“By tapping[on a wristband]you can know that that child is in school today. And by looking at trends, you can know if that child is likely to be in school tomorrow. So predictive analytics is really helpful in making sure that you’re not cooking too much, you’re not cooking too little, you’re cooking exactly what you’re supposed to be cooking. And that’s really important,” she said.

Njiru said hunger is a major global problem, costing the global economy $3 trillion every year, with Africa losing an estimated 16.5% of its potential GDP to hunger.

The results of Food4Education’s mission can be seen directly in attendance data. Njiru said engaging with schools increases enrollment by about 30%. “Children are attending school more regularly, and as a result, their performance has improved. … Children are healthier and less likely to get sick,” she said.

She says it’s not just about unlocking the potential of children, but also of communities. “The existence of school feeding programs allows all of these people to have dignity, from the farmers who provide food to the people who get jobs in the kitchens,” she added.

Njiru said the goal ahead was a “huge challenge”, citing the estimated 400 million children in Africa who need meals every day as part of their schooling. But she says all you need to do to get your foot in the door is visit one of Food4Education’s 1,500 schools. “Every time I go to our school, I feel like I can do this every day. I can do this without getting paid. I want to do this anytime for the rest of my life. It keeps me grounded, keeps me focused, and makes me think this is possible,” she said.

Follow and listen to this and all episodes of the podcast “CNBC Changemakers and Power Players” on Apple and Spotify.