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When you first meet the smartly dressed and “chic” Catherine Muganda, you would be forgiven for imagining she is a senior bank manager out for a stroll after a hectic days’ work. The truth is Catherine is the Managing Director of the Pearl College of Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy in Bungoma town.  But Pearl is not your normal run of the mill Hairdressing school – it has a unique heritage born of a mind that has economic empowerment of women in mind instead f the normal avaricious calculations for profit.

Born in Kakamega District and the first born in a family of eight, Catherine Muganda went to Lugala Primary School and later Mukumu Girls High School before proceeding to Moi University for her first Degree. She graduated with a Second Class Honours Degree in Business Management, Accounting Option and later went in for a Masters Degree in Strategic Management. She is currently enrolled for her PhD at the same University.

Upon graduation, Catherine worked with the James Finlay Company in Kericho as an Accountant before moving to RAWETO (Rural Agro-Forestry, Water, Energy and Technology Organisation) in Bungoma as the Finance and Administration Officer and later to K-REP Bank as the finance officer in Bungoma.

It was while she was at K-REP that she first started the Pearl Hair School of Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy with just 3 students who showed interest in hairdressing. As time went by, there was an increase in enrolment and by 2008, the school had eight students initially taking a six month course which was increased to eight months to cater for extra free lessons in Business Management. In 2009, this first group of students graduated at a colourful graduation ceremony held at the Bungoma Tourist Hotel and presided over by the Kanduyi South Member of Parliament, the Honourable Alfred Khang’ati, Assistant Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Oxford University Press top publisher of the year  the year with Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and Macmillan publishers being voted the first and second runners up respectively during the year 2010. The ranking was based on the total number of books approved by the ministry of Education (Kenya) for use in Secondary schools. The full list is shown below:

The Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) was created by an act of parliament which set up the Kenya National Library Service Board in 1965. The Boards work began in 1967, about two years later. According to Act, the functions of the Board are “to promote, establish, equip, manage, maintain and develop libraries in Kenya.  The service had its headquarters in Nairobi.

The KNLS Board of Directors has representation from all the provinces, the parent ministry, ministries of education, Local Government, Planning, and Treasury. Other Board members are drawn from Nairobi City Council, University of Nairobi. The Act provides for nominations into the Board for a few key stakeholders.

The Board’s work is to develop public libraries first at the provincial or area level and then at district or branch level, while maintaining postal services to individual and bulk lending to institutions. By 1990, eight provincial and seven district libraries had been established.