Joshua Okello

Joshua Okello

Joshua Okello

Tyndale (BA 2013)

When Keith, the 2013 Student Council president, met Josh, his new roommate from Kenya, little did he know Josh would become his inspiration.

Joshua grew up in a family of 14 in Kenya, but his parents died while he was in high school, forcing him to drop out and support his siblings. He started a small charity, Dress Africa, to provide clothing and short Bible passages to vulnerable children, but he knew he needed to improve his business skills to make it viable. A brother offered to help with Joshua’s tuition to Tyndale, but Joshua had to work two years to earn his airfare to Toronto.

At one point, Joshua’s brother lost his job and could no longer support his tuition fees. The Tyndale community and local churches pitched in, raising nearly $20,000 to pay for the last two years of his education.

“Josh, an orphan from Kenya, has become an inspiration to me, to our Tyndale family, and even to strangers who have been touched by his desire to help children in Canada,” Keith said of his friend. “We can only thank God for his grace, and for rallying the people of God to make Josh’s dream possible.”

Both Joshua and Keith graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration degrees in 2013, with Joshua’s focusing on international development.

Joshua went on to do an MBA in Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Today, he is Adjunct Professor of Business at Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg and a civil designer at Valley Fiber Ltd. 

Keith started and built several companies over the years, including Jasara Technology Inc., that makes software tools for 3PL warehouses and Amazon sellers so they can work faster and easier; and ListButler that makes it simple to list products across all eCommerce channels and leverages AI to generate optimized content.

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