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ISUZU EAST AFRICA FOUNDATION
Isuzu East Africa Foundation: Fifty Years In, Still Showing Up for Communities
The temptation is to spend the year reflecting on a company’s 50th anniversary. Some of that has been accomplished by Isuzu East Africa, which celebrated its golden anniversary in September 2025 at its Nairobi Assembly Plant, where a time capsule was sealed and scheduled to be opened in 2050. However, the event is not the true tale of this historic year. It is the work that the Isuzu East Africa Foundation has been doing all over Kenya, including water projects in Taita Taveta, learning centers inside a rehabilitation facility close to Nairobi, and mentorship programs for schoolchildren who receive career guidance from managers and engineers who resemble them. 2025 has been one of the years that the Foundation has been quietly constructing something genuine.
Water in Taita Taveta
At Kiwalwa Mixed Secondary School in Mboghoni Ward, Taita Taveta County, the Foundation began a KES 7 million water project in May 2025. The project, which was carried out in collaboration with Davis and Shirtliff, was created to address a very specific issue: the town had been experiencing long-term water shortages, which were having an impact on everything from school attendance to health.
The initiative had a significant impact on the ground. A new borehole was drilled, a solar-powered water pump was installed, a 60,000-liter water storage and distribution system was built, and two on-site technicians who would manage continuing maintenance were housed. Not just schools, but more than 2,000 people from 500 nearby homes will be served by the system.
Rita Kavashe, Chair of the Board and Managing Director, Isuzu EA, and Dr. Michael Musyoka, Manager Corporate Sustainability, Research, Monitoring & Evaluation, officially commissioned the Kiwalwa water project by turning on the tap – signalling a new chapter of clean, accessible water for the community. This milestone, made possible through the partnership of Davis & Shirtliff and Isuzu East Africa, reflects the shared commitment to sustainable development and community well-being.
Girls had been skipping school due to the lack of water. Long daily trips to water sources deplete learning time and energy in communities where women and girls are in charge of getting water. That is immediately addressed by the project. Additionally, it addresses the deficiencies in sanitation and hygiene that have historically caused epidemics of waterborne illnesses in the region. Rita Kavashe, the Chair of the Board and Managing Director of Isuzu East Africa, who also serves as the Foundation’s chair, called the handover a significant milestone and used the occasion to push students to reach higher goals. She also urged the community at large to contribute to food security by planting crops and fruit trees.
A Learning Hub Built from Recycled Materials
Jacqueline A. Odhiambo, SSP in charge, Kamae Borstal Girls Institute, joins Julius Ndegwa Mwangi, Director, Aftersales and Channel Development Division, Isuzu EA, for the ribbon cutting ceremony held on 5th July, 2025 to open the learning hub. This marked a significant milestone in community collaboration and empowerment.
The Isuzu Learning Hub at Kamae Girls Borstal Institution, housed within Kamiti Prisons in Kiambu, is one of the Foundation’s most thoughtful recent initiatives. The hub was constructed by Isuzu’s Aftersales and Channel Development Division and was turned over in July 2025. It was valued at KES 3 million.
The way this project was put together is what makes it unique. The hub was built primarily out of recycled materials from Isuzu’s Completely Knocked Down packaging, including crates and items that would have otherwise been thrown away during car manufacturing. Rather than being thrown away, that material was used to make shelves, chairs, and structural components for a classroom. 3,600 volunteer hours were contributed to the project by over 150 Isuzu employees, including 103 workers who worked on construction on a single Saturday in March 2025.
The learning hub at the institution, which houses young girls in the rehabilitation system, is designed to provide them with a structured study atmosphere, books, and a sense of hope for the future. On the day of the handover, the crew also played football with the youngsters, which speaks to the Foundation’s attitude to these trips. They are not simply abandoning infrastructure.
Mentorship That Has Been Running for Years
The Foundation’s most reliable track record is likely in mentoring. In its sixth year, the program at Embakasi Girls Secondary School has provided career Counselling, leadership coaching, and life skills training to nearly 850 pupils. 50 pupils from the school attended a complete mentorship day at the Isuzu East Africa factory in June 2025. Managing Director Rita Kavashe and a group of female business executives oversaw the event. Linda Njiru, the coordinator for communications and corporate social responsibility, moderated the meeting.
St. Thomas Aquinas High School’s Boys Mentorship Program has been in operation for seven years. Seventy kids from the school were welcomed by the Foundation at the Isuzu factory in July 2025. Mentors from various departments sat with them one-on-one, discussed their own career plans, and encouraged them to pursue technical vocations and STEM topics. In August, ten additional mentors came back for a holiday mentorship session, carrying on discussions with students about their academic and emotional struggles.
The mentors at the Foundation consistently convey the sense that they are there to be available, honest, and present rather than to deliver polished presentations. Students from both schools have been returning every year as a result of this strategy, which has helped the program endure over time.
Women Taking the Lead on IWD
Women from the Isuzu EA Foundation led a community visit to Senior Chief Munguti Secondary School in Mbooni, Makueni County, in March 2025 as part of International Women’s Month. The visit’s main goal was to address period poverty, which is still a major but little-discussed factor in girls’ absences from school. In order to guarantee that the girls at the school could attend courses without interruption, the team, coordinated by Foundation Directors Faith Nene and Shelmith Nderitu along with Linda Njiru, presented 100 dignity kits.
On March 8, the Foundation organized a visit to Tania Children’s Home in Kajiado County, where the HR and Corporate Sustainability Department conducted a community assistance program for children with special needs and orphans. The fact that both trips took place in the same week shows that the Foundation views International Women’s Month as an opportunity for action rather than merely awareness.
Environment: Trees, Mangroves, and a Long View
The Foundation has been steadily expanding its environmental efforts. With 13 growing beds and 52,000 seedlings a year, a tree nursery in Kiamuturi, Murang’a County, was turned over to the community in September 2024. Green Shine, a local self-help organization, runs the nursery, which specializes in native and fruit tree seedlings that are subsequently given to farmers and community members at a substantially discounted price. The effort, which is worth KES 2.7 million, involved about 250 staff volunteers.
This nursery contributes to Isuzu EA’s larger Aberdares afforestation project, which started in 2023 and aims to plant 100,000 trees there by the end of 2025. The Foundation has donated contemporary beehives to nearby communities and planted almost 65,000 trees since 2022. Together with its network of coastal dealers, the Foundation also conducted a mangrove regeneration project at Mchanjama Creek in Mombasa County in November 2024.
Road Safety and Health
At Isuzu EA, community service is not just done by the Foundation. To raise money for children with heart diseases at the Mater Hospital, 150 staff members took part in the Mater Heart Run in Nairobi in June 2025. The Isuzu EA Foundation has long partnered with the same hospital to serve low-income cardiac patients.
The Automobile Association, in collaboration with the National Transport and Safety Authority, recognized the Foundation and its Drivers Academy for winning first place in the Road Safety Training and Awareness category at the inaugural AA Kenya Awards in July 2025. As part of the Foundation’s efforts to lower traffic accidents and enhance road user behaviour nationwide, the Drivers Academy trains professional drivers.
Fifty Years and Still at It
All of this is connected by the Foundation’s refusal to view community service as an afterthought. The collaborations are long-lasting, the projects are particular, and the employees are directly involved. The Foundation is investing in results that matter beyond a fiscal year, whether it is a water system in Taita Taveta that will function for decades, a learning center that will assist girls in rehabilitation year after year, or a mentorship session that a student at Embakasi Girls will remember when she is making her career decision.
The Foundation’s story is about the communities that made that journey possible and the ones it is choosing to walk with going ahead, even though Isuzu East Africa has built its reputation for 50 years by assembling cars in Kenya.
