Late last year, Salome Posho walked into a Carrefour supermarket in Makuyu to restock on basic supplies, BIC pens for her daughter.
With hopes that the essentials would last through the term. Two weeks later, she received a call that she initially dismissed as a mistake. The caller indicated that she had won KSh 100,000 in school fees.
“I didn’t believe it,” Ms. Posho said later. “I had to call the supermarket myself to confirm.”
Ms. Posho is an accountant and a mother of two. One child is in university, the other in junior high school. Like many households, hers is balancing rising education costs against everyday expenses. “Things are difficult everywhere,” she said. “School fees are always at the back of your mind.”
Her win, part of a Back-to-School campaign run in partnership between BIC and Carrefour Kenya, eased that pressure, at least for a term. Another parent, Esther Muriuki, was also among the beneficiaries.
While promotions and giveaways are common during the school shopping season, the context in which these stories land matters. Kenya’s education system is undergoing significant transition under the Competency-Based Curriculum, which places emphasis on creativity, continuous assessment, and learner participation. At the same time, households are navigating higher costs, from tuition to transport to learning materials.
For many families, the difference between staying afloat and falling behind is often determined by small margins. A term’s fees. A reliable set of supplies. Fewer interruptions to learning.
This is where private-sector actors increasingly find themselves drawn into conversations once reserved for governments and donors. Educational access, once framed largely as a public policy issue, is now shaped by a wider ecosystem that includes retailers, manufacturers, and community partnerships.
As a global stationery manufacturer, BIC is committed to education. In Kenya, BIC has impacted over 1.53 M learners to date, predominately through initiatives and programs that focus on penmanship, impact of handwriting on cognitive development, and access to the necessary writing tools for academic performance.
BIC’s latest partnership with Carrefour builds on this trajectory, reflecting a growing trend of retailers and manufacturers aligning commercial activity with social outcomes. For consumers like Ms. Posho, the significance is far less abstract.
“It means one less thing to worry about,” she said. “It means my children can focus on school.”
As the Back-to-School season ends, stories like Ms. Posho’s offer a reminder that education debates are not only about policy frameworks or curriculum design. They are about real families navigating uncertainty, and the small interventions that can create breathing room.
Sometimes, the path forward begins with something as ordinary as buying a pen.