FINATRADE FOUNDATION PRESENTS SCHOLARSHIPS TO 20 UNDERGRADUATES (SPREAD)

THE Finatrade Foundation has presented scholarships to 20 fresh agricultural students in four public universities in the country.
The universities are the University of Ghana, Legon, the University of Cape Coast, the University for Development Studies and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.
They will receive financial support of GH¢600 every year until they complete their programmes of study.
This brings to 106 the number of students who had so far benefited from the scholarship scheme since its establishment about five years ago. The previous support was GH¢500 a year per student.
Finatrade Foundation, through its sponsors, the Finatrade Group, instituted the scholarship award to needy students pursuing programmes in agriculture in the four universities, with the overall objective of supporting the nation’s agricultural development with the youth as the focus.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the KNUST last Tuesday, the Chairperson of the Executive Council of the Finatrade Foundation, Ms Joyce Aryee, said since the establishment of the scheme, two batches of the beneficiaries had graduated with many of them receiving first class honours.
“Indeed, eight students were honoured with first class out of the 23 Finatrade scholars who graduated in the year 2008,” she added.
Ms Aryee noted that one significant feature of the scholarship scheme was that the students were given the opportunity to work as interns with the Finatrade Group during semester breaks to prepare them practically for future jobs.
She said the Foundation, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), will soon roll out a programme targeted at solving agricultural and industrial related problems in the country.
She gave the assurance that the Foundation would continue with such support as long as their sponsors, the Finatrade Group, continued with its support.
The Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. K.K. Adarkwa, commended Finatrade Foundation for its noble assistance to the needy.
He was confident that the students would make maximum use of the support to guarantee them a better future.
The Guest Speaker at the ceremony, Dr A.B. Salifu, who is the Director General of the CSIR, noted the importance of agriculture in the development of the economy and said the sector demanded all the necessary support to grow.
He, therefore, commended Finatrade Foundation for the initiatives it had taken to improve the sector.