As you are aware the Chevening Scholarship offered by the

British Government has just been opened. I am among the

selected scholars from Kenya and I will be pursuing MSc.
Agriculture and Development at the University of Reading in
the UK. I will be doing special articles once in a while to offer
guidance and motivate potential applicants.

Chevening is the UK government’s awards scheme that

offers fully funded one year taught master’s scholarship to
future leaders, decision makers and influencers in their own
countries. The scholarship is tenable at any UK (England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) university in any
subject. The scholarship caters for tuition fees, health
insurance, flight and visa expenses plus a monthly stipend to
cater for living expenses. It also has several non monetary
benefits. (www.chevening.org)

The application involves writing four essays in English which

can be broadly described into;

a) Leadership and Influence

b) Networking

c) Why Study in the UK and why the three course choices

d) Career plan

In this article, I will just cover the Leadership and Influence

essay with brief snippets of my essay. But before that make
sure you meet the two basic requirements;

I) Have a Bachelors degree equivalent of 2:2 and above

i.e second class lower division and above. However, if you
got 2:2, makes sure you apply to universities that accept it.
Most universities accept a 2:1 (second class upper division)
and above.

II) Two years experience which includes voluntary work

and internships that are not part of your requirements to
graduate.

Kindly note that it’s possible to apply if you will graduate in

December as the deadline to upload your degree certificate
and academic transcripts is early next year.

Let’s now look into the leadership essay. The question that
you will be answering in the essay is, Chevening is looking
for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in
their home countries. Explain how you meet this
requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership
and influencing skills to support your answer. ( minimum
100, maximum 500 words)

I used three leadership examples. I would advise you first list

all your accomplishments that demonstrate your leadership
abilities and then narrow down on three. Try to be diverse as
much as possible. In my case I was spoilt for choice having
led in high school, church, university, family, community level
through voluntary work, in my professional career as banker
and having vied for a parliamentary seat in the 2017 Kenyan
General election as an independent candidate. In the end I
settled on three examples, two from my community work and
one while running my campaign.

In your first paragraph, introduce your essay in one or two

sentences. This should give the reader, a short glimpse of
the kind of leader you are. Don’t try to define leadership but
rather demonstrate how you are that leader. This introduction
should link up with your examples and your conclusion.
Immediately after the short introduction, give your first
example. The next two examples should each be in separate
paragraphs.

In structuring your examples, always use the STAR

approach. (Remember this is the same approach you will
use to answer your interview questions if shortlisted).

Situation– Describe the problem/situation

Task– What was required to be done

Action– What did you do? If in a group what was your role.

Results– What were the results/impact.

At this juncture, let me give you a snippet of my first

paragraph which covered my introduction and the first
example.

My ability to identify community problems, assemble teams

and initiate solutions define me as a self-driven and
compassionate leader. As a banker in 2014, I founded the
Maragua Mentorship Program in response to the dwindling
motivation among primary school pupils leading to low
performance. I used my story of rising from humble
beginnings, struggling with school fees and growing up as an
orphan to inspire them so they could excel in academics. I
started with five members and later expanded as mentors
could refer others. I also designed a Google form and posted
it on my personal Facebook account inviting young
professionals and university students who could mentor
pupils to join. Later, we identified gaps in school materials
and mobilized funds for buying geometrical sets and revision
textbooks. As of June 2018, over fifty public primary schools
had permanent mentors who broadened their activities to
financially supporting bright but needy pupils joining
secondary schools. The success of this program led to my
nomination to the Board of Management of Sabasaba
Secondary School by the County Education Board in 2015, a
position I still hold. The volunteers derived value in giving
back to the communities and the initiative has spread to
other sub-counties.

My essay had two other paragraphs each covering an

example demonstrating my leadership abilities. My final
paragraph was a short one and sever as the conclusion. It is
important to note that it should link up with your brief
introduction and the body. My conclusion was as follows;

With the Chevening Scholarship, I will broaden my

knowledge, competencies and networks to offer solutions to
poverty and inequality to more Kenyans.

Finally be authentic, give your story and do not copy essays

of previously selected scholars. The readers can detect
plagiarism (an academic offence) and it’s makes your
interviews in later stages easier when you own your story. Be
honest, if you lie, it is very easy to be detected during the
interview stage as there are experienced interviewers who
can know through follow up questions. Also use simple
grammatically correct English sentences. Your essays are
the opportune moment to create a first impression and
writing skills are paramount in this. Have people to proofread
your essays for guidance and where you use abbreviations,
make sure you give their meaning initially.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article

are purely mine and do not reflect the position of the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and or its partner
organizations.