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Prof. John Krop Lonyangapuo has had a steady rise to stardom; having started as a High School teacher in his native West-Pokot District to become a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialization.

Born in Kanyarkwat village on 10th December, 1964, Prof. Lonyangapuo's rise to a reknown Scholar and Administrator was no easy feat. First he had to look after his father's livestock until he was 10 years old. And when he joined Class One it was not for the pursuit of long-term education, but to learn to count his father's animals, and perhaps go back and become a more effective herdsboy.

However that was not to be. "My father decided to send me to school to learn how to count his animals so that I become a better herdsboy," he says. While he was in Class One, most of his age mates were in Class Four. He became a laughing stock.

But he who laughs last laughs best. Steadily, a determined Lonyangapuo rose high the academic ladder to become the first Professor from the entire Pokot community, and also one among a handful Professors of Applied Mathematics in Kenya.

Before being appointed the PS for Industrialization in April 2008 by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki, Prof. Lonyangapuo served as a Mathematics lecturer at Egerton University and then Principal of Chepkoilel Campus, Moi University, between 2002 and 2007.

The 44 year old professor, who is also the Chairman of Kabarak University Governing Council, started his education in 1972 in Kanyarkwat Primary school where he would trek for over 10 kilometres to school in an area prone to the cattle rustling menace.

He scored an impressive 34 out of the possible 36 points for the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) and proceeded to Ortum High School in 1981 for his O' level. In 1984, he completed his O' level with Division One grade, emerging among the best students in the district, and joined St Mary's School Yala in 1985.

While in Yala, his academic pursuits were severely threatened after he dropped out of the school for sometime due to lack of school fees. This happened after all of his father's animals, that he entirely depended on for school fees, were rounded up by security personnel and confiscated to serve as community punishment during a military operation to stamp out cattle rustling in West-Pokot.

Fortunately, the then area District commissioner Mr. Peter Langat intervened and wrote to the school to let Lonyangapuo finish his A' level saying the Government would settle the fee balance. He was eventually allowed to stay in school and scored three Principal Passes, and joined Egerton University in 1988 to study Double Maths.

He graduated in 1990 and was posted to Kaptabuk Secondary School in his home district where taught for two years before returning to Egerton University for a Masters Degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1995, he got a scholarship to study for his PhD in Leeds University, United Kingdom.

After three years, he returned to Egerton where he taught as a senior lecturer before being appointed Principal Chepkoilel Campus by former President Daniel Arap Moi.

Coming from a community where illiteracy level is about 90 per cent and the norm is cattle rustling and banditry activities, Prof. Lonyangapuo has decided to dedicate his life in uplifting the education standards of the Pokot community. His mission is to ensure that more and more Pokots discard cattle rustling and embrace education.

At the moment has helped over 700 students to join public universities under the privately sponsored students program (PSSP). His goal, he outlines, is to ensure that illiteracy level in the district is reduced substantially by the year 2010. And to walk the talk, Prof. Lonyangapuo helped built the first secondary school in Kong'elai Division of West-Pokot District to enable local youth's access formal education. He handed over Karenger Boys School, which cost him over Sh. 3 million, to the local community.

"Many children in the area have shied away from pursuing secondary education because the nearest school is more than 30 kilometers away," he says adding that illiteracy level in West-Pokot is still over 90 per cent.

Prof. Lonyangapuo has traversed the whole Pokotland which comprise of West Pokot, North Pokot and East Pokot to sensitize the community on the importance of education. His fight against cattle rustling made the Government to honour him with the Head of State Commendation (HSC) in 2006.

Prof. Lonyangapuo has a rich academic track that has seen him publish over 20 Mathematics journals. He has also published a 120-page book, titled Journey Across the Jungle, that outlines the history of the Pokots, the problems the community has encountered since independence and the best way to get out of the dilapidating and demeaning labyrinth of poverty among the pastoral communities.

As a Permanent Secretary, Prof. Lonyangapuo's main goal is to ensure massive industrialization in Kenya. This, he says, shall involve providing an enabling environment for the sustainable growth of existing industries and accelerated development and promotion of new industries. "In order to increase our Country's GDP, reduce poverty, create more jobs and eventually achieve our 2030 development vision, Industrial investment is the only best way to go," says the PS.

He adds, "It's in this light that the Ministry shall encourage local investors to engage in the manufacturing sector - even at a small scale - and gradually develop into mega producers of finished products. We shall also ppromote small-scale industries especially in the rural areas."

The PS gives an example of West-Pokot District that has several minerals like limestone, gold and ruby which could be exploited to create employment for the locals and uplift their living standards. He says limestone which is mined in the area and transported to a Ugandan factory for processing, denies the locals a lot of income.

Prof. Lonyangapuo is married to Mary Lonyangapuo, a lecturer at Moi University, with whom they are blessed with four children.