Nairobi, March 14 -- For Grace Kagondu, the dream to be an engineer began as early as when she was nine years old, thanks to her father who worked at the Kenya Railways. He often spoke of the corporation's chief engineer with pride.

Her dream came true. Some three decades after she graduated with second class honours in civil and structural engineering from the University of Nairobi, she now aims to be the first woman President of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK).

Though it is s tall order, she believes she can achieve anything she sets her mind on. At the age of nine, she envisaged herself being an engineer and achieved the feat less than 15 years later. This ambition saw her work extra hard in her mathematics and sciences t...