Finatrade scholarship for 20 students

Page 48: February 20, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Finatrade Foundation yesterday presented scholarships to 20 second-year students pursuing courses in agriculture at four public universities in the country.
Each of the beneficiaries would receive GH ¢500 for every academic year of their period of study at the University of Ghana, Legon; University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University for Development Studies.
The award to the 20 students brought the number of agriculture students on scholarship from the foundation to 86 since the inception of the scholarship scheme in 2003.
The foundation was set up to promote socio-economic development and help reduce poverty. It also seeks to equip the beneficiaries with practical training on the job.
At a ceremony to present the award to the new beneficiaries, the Managing Director of the Finatrade Group of Companies, Mr Nabil Mourkazel, urged agriculture students to get into farming upon completion of their tertiary education.
He said agriculture offered the best business opportunity for any entrepreneur to succeed due to the increasing demand for food to meet the growing world population.
He said the world population was growing exponentially, resulting in shortages in food supply the world over.
He urged them not to be content with the degrees they would earn at the end of their studies but to endeavour to move into the field of putting their knowledge into practice.
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Eledi, conceded that modernising agriculture would be difficult unless there were farmers who would be able to use the tools and equipment imported.
He said agriculture graduates, therefore, held the key to modernising agriculture and urged them to abandon the notion of working in offices after completion of their courses.
The Chairperson of the foundation, Ms Joyce Aryee, said the foundation had so far spent GH¢94,500 on the scholarships.
She said the Finatrade Group was also offering internship programmes for the beneficiaries so that they would have the experience of the world of work.
She said the group would also engage some of the graduates permanently after they had undertaken their national service.