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BAKE Launches 2nd University Chapter at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology

Dedan Kimathi UniversityLast month, Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) launched their 2nd BAKE University Chapter at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology in Nyeri.

The launch of Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKuT) Chapter as a club complete with officials, a logo as well as members recruited from the university community was a culmination of months of planning following an earlier training done in Nyeri town where the students who made up the majority, requested that we go back and train them again. They also expressed the need to have a close community within the University that would not only help in training and mentorship but also serve as the lead in setting the agenda for the student community use of the internet availed by the school administration and the use of social media responsibly.

The BAKE country office team was made up of Mbugua Njihia of Symbiotic, Sam Wakoba of TechMoran, Shitemi Khamadi the Kenya Monitor Managing Editor, Jane Muthoni the Admin Manager, James Wamathai – Director of Partnerships and Njeri Wangari the Director of Outreach & Training. We arrived in Nyeri town quite early on Friday 30th January to the generous reception of our hosts, the DeKuT club officials headed by the Chairman Dennis Mwangi. After a tour of the campus where we met the Dean of Students, we went straight to the auditorium where numerous students were ready, laptops on the desks, hashtag on the hibernate mode, looking forward to learning a thing or two on blogging and Social media.


Soon after the introductions we had short speech sessions from Anthony Oroko a representative from the Computer Society of Kimathi, the BAKE DeKuT Chairman and from Mr. Ngatia from the office of the Dean of Students.

Njeri Wangari started off the training which she summarized as ‘ Blogging and Social Media; A Beginners Course’.

She went ahead to introduce the session as a 3 month course compressed into only 2 hours laying out the course objectives which were:-

  • Understand social media fundamentals
  • Understand basic social media etiquette
  • Understand what blogs are
  • Develop your Blog
  • Choose a blog service
  • Write and promote your blog
  • Understand Copyright and fair use
  • Create a social media campaign
  • Publish social media updates and engage with a community
  • Apply social media best practices to enhance their personal brand

Njeri took the next 2 hours to give a lesson on :-

  • Why Social Media?
  • Social Networking basics
  • All about blogs
  • Personal branding and Social Media etiquette.

Her presentations were interactive drawing comments and participation from the students in the auditorium. Her use of case studies especially when stressing the importance of Personal branding online and the need for Social media etiquette left many laughing out loud as they recognized some of the individuals whose tweets had been captured as screenshots.

After her training, Wamathai held a fireside chat with the panel made up of Mbugua Njihia, Sam Wakoba and Shitemi Khamadi on making money online, the need to remain professional, their journey in entrepreneurship and blogging, challenges and words of advice to the students. As we ended the discussion, the University’s Vice Chancellor Prof. P.N Kioni joined us to formally launch the chapter with a Cake cutting ceremony. He also gave a few remarks applauding the students for being able to come together and form a club. He noted that he together with the faculty were supportive of the initiative and had ensured that students get very good internet availed freely. He however cautioned the students on the need to use the internet and Social media responsibly is it is a powerful tool that can either make or destroy. We finished the training at 3pm and proceeded for lunch and networking. During the lunch sessions a lot of students engaged the Nairobi team and many expressed their gratitude to the trainers for an informative session.


The hashtag for the event was #KimathiUni and many students shared what they had learnt as well as their comments on the event throughout the day and into the night as we left the Institution.

Check out these moments and more in the photo gallery in our Facebook page.

Our next training will be on 28th February in Bungoma town.