Tag: Coop Prepaid Card

National Schools in Kenya with the Most Creative Motto Phrases

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

Is it possible that a school’s motto has an impact in the overall turnout of its alumni? Oftentimes, this slogan is drilled into young entrants every morning at parade.

It’s like an indoctrination phrase into the school’s culture. It’s plastered in bold on every available space from school’s entrance, stationery, to blazers and shirts.

A school’s motto is an organ of pride, in every alumni association meet. It creates an addictive euphoria that stirs fond memories! Here’s a random list of 10 most creative motto phrases!

Meru School entrance in a past photo (file image)

Meru School: In Understanding, Be Men

A cursory perusal of history books sheds some light to the origin and relevance of this motto. Meru School is presently commands mention as on the country’s glorious institutions.

But, it’s grown from a humble existence, since inception in 1956. It’d grow, from learning under trees – drawing male students from the larger Meru and North Eastern Provinces – regions known for volatile temperaments.

They’d often be protests, due to harsh learning and living conditions. To counter this, the missionaries coined the phrase: In Understanding, Be Men!

Machakos School: ‘Ui wi Mbee’

The phrase ‘Ui wi mbee’ is an ode from the local language Kamba, which loosely translates as ‘Wisdom ahead’. The school is central to the regions cultural and social dynamics, and has historically produced some of the country’s most iconic figures straddling politics, academia, industrial and other fields.

The phrase is unique, as it’s a derivative from a local language, as opposed to schools with phrases from foreign languages.

Mang’u High School: Jishinde Ushinde

The name Mangu rolls off the tongue as a strong bragging high school favorite. Their motto, in Swahili – “Jishinde Ushinde” is simple, catchy. It loosely translates to “Conquer Yourself to Conquer” in English.

This is an ideal demonstrated in the school’s stellar performances, over several decades. It also helps that the school only admits the country’s best performers in KCPE.

Nairobi School: To the Uttermost

Well, in everything you wish to do, do to your uttermost. Give all it takes. There’s no holding back. I’d imagine the phrase ‘To the Uttermost’ would be an apt rallying call for an advancing army, and would be very encouraging to high school students.

Beyond high school, Nairobi School’s alumni would still find power and resolve, as they face cut-throat corporate and entrepreneurial sectors. It defines excellence.

Nairobi School – To the Uttermost (file images)

Kenya High School: Servire est Regnare

The Latin Phrase ‘Servire est Regnare’ is shared by Groton School, a private boarding school in USA. The English translation, as often occurs with complex Latin, several outcomes. But, in essence – “To serve is to rule”, or “For whom service is perfect freedom”

Kenya High is one of the best performing national schools in Kenya, and has very tight admission requirements. Only the country’s top KCPE performers attain admission.

Whichever high school your child attends, they all face the same challenges. Top of this agenda, is handling cash.

Luckily, digital banking has taken over and it’s much easier, and safer.

Co-op Bank has availed an innovative, safe and easy way to safeguard your child’s pocket money from risk of loss to marauding bullies – or wayward street-level thieves

The Co-op Bank Pre-paid card allows a parent to load cash into a card which a student carries to school.

Whichever your choice of bank is, all one has to do is walk into the nearest Co-op Bank branch and sign up for the card, and your child’s needs are handled.

What are the benefits of a Co-op Bank Prepaid card?

  • No need for your child to carry loads of pocket money as they head to school, you can simply load it in the Co-op Prepaid card which is safer than carrying cash.
  • The student will be able to pay for items at their school canteens at No Extra cost.
  • Parents will be able to track their students sending by getting a Mini statement of the card at a Co-op Kwa Jirani agent or via SMS alerts
  • You no longer need to travel all the way to the school to hand over money to your child, you can simply load the card at any Co-op Kwa Jirani agent.
  • The students are also able to withdraw money using the card from any Co-op ATMs or Co-op Kwa Jirani agents outside school.
  • You don’t need an account with Co-op bank to enjoy the benefits of the card
  • No extra charges will be incurred in transactions using the card.

It’s a good idea to visit the nearest Co-op Bank branch to learn about Co-op Pre-paid card, or click here.

Ain’t it true that high school survival stories prepare you for a harsh world?

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

In lots of ways, our experiences in high school define the rest of our lives. Everything from social skills to street-smart adaptability. High school was an all-inclusive holistic life shaping engagement. Well, corporal punishment was common fanfare, them days. The perfect trailer to a harsh, cruel world after school.

First off, high school gave us a chance to venture outside the suffocating confines of our village and exposed us to other cultures.

He who doesn’t travel thinks his mother is the best cook.

We got used to weevil-ridden fare in smoky kitchens with sweaty, scowling cooks. In some occasions, we’d catch a whiff of kerosene in the Githeri!

The village had embraced us in a loving embrace – then high school ripped us from that comforting embrace to the cruelty of sadistic bullies.

You learn that people can be unkind for no reason.

You learn the world doesn’t owe you a soft landing.

The basics of the social system – elite class, the middle class and the peasants – are first made apparent in high school. One learns there will always be people richer and wealthier, but not necessarily smarter. The grades in class is what mattered.

On money, lessons were served fast and harshly. What may seem exorbitant to one may turn out to be mere chicken feed to another. In those days, I’d feel rich if my folks and relatives in the village sent me back to school with 500 bob as pocket money – shopping inclusive. Then I’d meet urban kids living like kings with unlimited funding!

High school taught us restraint – one doesn’t need to eat bread with margarine on every break.

The ingenious village kids would often come up with tricks to earn extra income.

I know a lad who cleaned the 4K club rabbit hutches for a fee. Most of the club’s members were averse to the tedious chores. He made a tidy sum after classes.

Another lad made a name as a data entry expert – copy writing notes and long assignments over the weekends. He’d also write fancy, wordy, perfumed letters to pen pals in neighboring schools for a fee.

The harshest lesson was dished out in form one, second term. I lost a tidy sum of money to con artists at the bus terminus in town on the way to school.

It was the school fees – stashed in my socks. To date, it amazes me how they had realized I had money on me.

Nowadays, luckily, school kids do not have to expose themselves to con artists and pick pockets. In regard to school fees, with Co-op Bank there’s four safe and convenient ways – from anywhere on the globe.

There are 4 different ways that you can use to pay your fees and that is; the MCo-op Cash app, M-Pesa Pay Bill, Co-op PesaLink or at a Co-op Kwa Jirani agent.

To pay your fees through the MCo-op Cash app follow these steps:

  • Log in to MCo-op Cash
  • Select Other Payments
  • Select School Fees
  • Enter school code/business number; click here to confirm your school’s coordinates
  • Enter account to pay from
  • Enter student number
  • Confirm transaction
  • Receive SMS confirming that the transaction was successful

(You can also dial #667 on your phone and follow the same steps)

To pay your fees through M-Pesa PayBill follow these steps:

  • Go to Lipa na M-Pesa (PayBill)
  • Enter Business Code 400222
  • Enter Account Number as School Code followed by # followed by the student number, for example, 1059#123456789
    (NB: Click here to confirm your school’s coordinates)
  • Enter amount
  • Enter M-Pesa PIN
  • Confirm transaction
  • Receive SMS confirming that the transaction was successful

To pay your fees through a Co-op Kwa Jirani Agent, simply walk to the nearest one and give them the details of the student and name of the school and the money and you will get a receipt.

To pay your fees through Co-op Internet Banking (Co-opNet) follow these steps:

  • Log in to Co-op Internet Banking
  • Select ‘Bank Transfer’
  • Enter the required details for the school’s account
  • Confirm the transfer
  • Print out your receipt once the payment goes through

For more information, you can visit C0-op Bank’s website and ask them any questions that you may have through their Twitter. #WeAreYou

How does the Co-op Bank Pre-Paid Card make life easier for a student in school?

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

High school, ain’t just about academics. It’s full of surprises. There’s a whole lot to learn.

There’s the inevitable social angle: How do you relate with people from other communities? It prepares a student for a larger world with strange languages, other tribes and cultures.

There’s the societal standing. A lot of students hail from poor to average backgrounds, high school is one long lesson on how to not compare self with others.

A youngling learns how to integrate with people hailing from completely different backgrounds.

It is what it is.

A factor that remains constant is the clamour by senior students to take advantage of new, naive students. While over the years the bullying dragon has largely been slayed, it still exists in other forms.

The typical bully’s magnet is the allure of pocket money.

The ingenious seniors employ all sorts of uncanny tricks to relieve newcomers of their pocket money.

Some were straight incredulous – say, a senior would come into the form one class dressed in smart casual clothes, pretending to be some club’s patron – and, he’s on a quest to recruit new members.

The wide-eyed freshers would be awed by the smartly-dressed club patron, and the registration fee would be fixed at a modest 100 bob. Freshers would scramble to register.

That’s how freshers would be dubed to join fictitious clubs – The Forest Club, The Young Rotary Club, et al.

It’s common, and unethical, but senior students would break into the fresher’s lockers and boxes. The trick to safeguard this money was to think like a thief – how best to hide your money.

A lot of freshers would spend weeks walking around with money in their socks. Or, rolled up in polythene and buried somewhere in the school grounds.

It was hectic. A lot of prep time is spent wondering if the stash is safe.

Cue in the modern times, where digital banking has taken over, and this predicament is easily solved.

Co-op Bank has availed an innovative, safe and easy way to safeguard your child’s pocket money from risk of loss to marauding bullies.

As it is, a student can now worry less about their money’s safety and keep to their studies.

The Co-op Bank Pre-paid card allows a parent to load cash into a card which a student carries to school.

Whichever your choice of bank is, all one has to do is walk into the nearest Co-op Bank branch and sign up for the card, and your childs needs are handled.

What are the benefits of a Co-op Bank Prepaid card?

  • No need for your child to carry loads of pocket money as they head to school, you can simply load it in the Co-op Prepaid card which is safer than carrying cash.
  • The student will be able to pay for items at their school canteens at No Extra cost.
  • Parents will be able to track their students sending by getting a Mini statement of the card at a Co-op Kwa Jirani agent or via SMS alerts.
  • You no longer need to travel all the way to the school to hand over money to your child, you can simply load the card at any Co-op Kwa Jirani agent.
  • The students are also able to withdraw money using the card from any Co-op ATMs or Co-op Kwa Jirani agents outside school.
  • You dont need an account with Co-op bank to enjoy the benefits of the card.
  • No extra charges will be incurred in transactions using the card.

It’s prudent to visit the nearest Co-op Bank branch to learn about Co-op Pre-paid card, or click here.

The easy way to safeguard your child’s pocket money from bullies and unethical seniors

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

There is more to high school, ain’t just about academics.

There’s a whole lot to learn. How to relate to people from other communities with strange languages, volatile temperaments and social standing.

A lot of students hail from poor to average backgrounds, high school is one long lesson on how to not compare self with others.

It is what it is.

A factor that remains constant is the clamour by senior students to take advantage of new, naive students.

While over the years the bullying dragon has largely been slayed, it still exists in other forms.

The typical bully’s magnet is the allure of pocket money.

The ingenious seniors employ all sorts of uncanny tricks to relieve newcomers of their pocket money.

Some were straight incredulous – say, a senior would come into the form one class dressed in smart casual clothes, pretending to be some club’s patron – and, he’s on a quest to recruit new members.

The wide-eyed freshers would be awed by the smartly-dressed club patron, and the registration fee would be fixed at a modest 100 bob.

Freshers would scramble to register.

That’s how freshers would be dubed to join fictitious clubs – The Forest Club, The Young Rotary Club, et al.
Some unethical senior students would break into the fresher’s lockers and boxes. The trick to safeguard this money was to think like a thief – how best to hide your money.

A lot of freshers would spend weeks walking around with money in their socks. Or, rolled up in polythene and buried somewhere in the school grounds.

It was hectic. A lot of prep time is spent wondering if the stash is safe.

Cue in the modern times, where digital banking has taken over, and this predicament is easily solved.

Co-op Bank has availed an innovative, safe and easy way to safeguard your child’s pocket money from risk of loss to marauding bullies.

As it is, a student can now worry less about their money’s safety and keep to their studies.

The Co-op Bank Pre-paid card allows a parent to load cash into a card which a student carries to school.

Whichever your choice of bank is, all one has to do is walk into the nearest Co-op Bank branch and sign up for the card, and your child’s needs are handled.

What are the benefits of a Co-op Bank Prepaid card?

  • No need for your child to carry loads of pocket money as they head to school, you can simply load it in the Co-op Prepaid card which is safer than carrying cash..
  • The student will be able to pay for items at their school canteens at No Extra cost.
  • Parents will be able to track their students sending by getting a Mini statement of the card at a Co-op Kwa Jirani agent or via SMS alerts
  • You no longer need to travel all the way to the school to hand over money to your child, you can simply load the card at any Co-op Kwa Jirani agent..
  • The students are also able to withdraw money using the card from any Co-op ATMs or Co-op Kwa Jirani agents outside school.
  • You don’t need an account with Co-op bank to enjoy the benefits of the card
  • No extra charges will be incurred in transactions using the card.

It’s prudent to visit the nearest Co-op Bank branch to learn about Co-op Pre-paid card, or click here.

The Avocado Guy: How a fruit incident in high school gave birth to a lifetime nickname!

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

If you had to pick a fruit as a prop when making a proposal to the love of your life, what would you choose?

It has to be as closest to your personality as can be……

Watermelons define an ambiguous person. Cucumbers, well, someone is cold blooded. A strawberry, that’s a happy-go-lucky soul – always happy. A pine apple, that’s the icy sibling with a short fuse.

In my case, its the Avocado.

The avocado fruit, alias the guacamole, has been the sun around which my life orbits rotate. The seasons, the fall and rise of my tidal fortunes, and misfortunes. Oh, avocado, the poems she deserves.

(All prized objects are classified as a ‘She’, right? – jets, super bikes, yatchs, avocados…)

This fruit must have been rigged out in the stories on the foetal stages of man, cue the Garden of Eden. The apple is too bland.

Otherwise, the survival of college students would be on the apple, but it isn’t. Its the eternal avocado.

I can’t help it, but I cringe everytime I meet a former classmate. The avocado is to blame.

Luckily, most are self-absorbed with the caste questions: What do you do nowadays? They want to know how much respect you deserve.

Occasionally, I meet the loudmouths, the former bullies. I’ve had a fellow whose name I couldn’t place (he was in Form 4S, I was in 4N) bawl my name across an empty banking hall.

Well, not my name exactly, but my high school nick name.

HEY, ZACK WA AVOCADO!

This guy remembers our first day, that the hallowed fruit allowed me to share her name.

It’s a she, we agreed.

The school had a central square on which we naively lined up with our boxes, for check in.

The square commanded a higher ground than the row of classrooms. The senior students spent most of the time making faces at us from the windows.

My turn came, and I popped open the overstuffed metal box.

Alas, and behold, a batch of avocados (a group can be called a batch, right?) tumble out!

Worse still, the fruits tumble the entire length of the raised square, down to the row of classrooms.

I later heard a boy was almost trumpled to death in the mini-stampede as students scrambled for them.

I became The Avocado Guy.

A week later, I receive a letter from my younger brother:

*Bro, hope uli manage kuuza ile Avo coz mi huskia wasee huchukua pocket money ya mono zote…..

I could strangle the little devil!

But he was right – later that night we lost most of our pocket money!

If you have a kid joining high school, anticipate money trouble. The risks of carrying hard cash are a dime a dozen.

An innovative idea by Co-op Bank gives a suitable solution.

The Co-op Prepaid Card is a new revolutionary cashless way to escape the perils of handling hard cash – students can safely carry their pocket money – and there’s no extra charges when shopping at the school canteen.

Another plus is that parents and guardians can remotely monitor their student’s spending habits, amount available and even load the card directly from their phones.

Hey, you don’t even have to be a Co-op Bank client to enjoy the benefits of the Co-op Prepaid Card.

To learn more about the Co-op Prepaid Card, click here.

Alternatively, walk into the nearest Co-op Bank branch to speak to a bank representative.

Avocado, anyone?

Have you got kids in school? Here’s seven great reasons why a Co-op Pre-paid Card is a good idea!

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

The Co-op Prepaid Card is a new revolutionary cashless way to escape the perils of handling hard cash.

Despite the health risks cash brings, there’s also a myriad of other risks: loss due to theft or misplacement, it’s harder to account for or track expenses, et al.

For students going back to school, the risks are doubled. This card solves the perennial stress of constantly worrying about your kids in college and high school.

The pickle in the pie is that one doesn’t require to be a Co-op Bank client to enjoy the benefits of the Pre-paid card.

Whichever your choice of bank is, all one has to do is walk into the nearest Co-op Bank branch and sign up for the card, and your child’s needs are handled.

What are the benefits of a Co-op Bank Prepaid card?

  • No need for your child to carry loads of pocket money as they head to school, you can simply load it in the Co-op Prepaid card which is safer than carrying cash..
  • The student will be able to pay for items at their school canteens at No Extra cost.
  • Parents will be able to track their students sending by getting a Mini statement of the card at a Co-op Kwa Jirani agent or via SMS alerts
  • You no longer need to travel all the way to the school to hand over money to your child, you can simply load the card at any Co-op Kwa Jirani agent..
  • The students are also able to withdraw money using the card from any Co-op ATMs or Co-op Kwa Jirani agents outside school.
  • You don’t need an account witph Co-op bank to enjoy the benefits of the card
  • No extra charges will be incurred in transactions using the card.

Visit the nearest Co-op Bank branch to learn more about the Prepaid card, or, click here.