University Endowment Fund Gets GHC250,000 Boost From Phoenix Insurance

Phoenix Insurance Company, a leading insurer in Ghana, has presented a cheque of GH¢ 100,000.00 as part payment of GH¢ 250,000.00 to the University of Ghana Endowment Fund as a component of its corporate social investment.

The company presented the cheque of GH¢ 100,000.00 as the first tranche with an assurance to present the remainder by mid-year 2018, towards improving teaching in higher institutions.

The Endowment Fund which is to be set up this year is earmarked for addressing key areas of the University's development programmes, including accommodation, curriculum development, recruitment, training and activities to enhance the socialisation of staff and students.

Mr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, the Group CEO of CDH Financial Holdings Limited and board member of Phoenix Insurance Company, said that the gesture was worthy of consideration in view of the number of students likely to be absorbed by tertiary institutions across the country, following the implementation of government's free SHS programme which has seen large number of students enter various senior high schools.

'If we are successful at implementing the free SHS programme, it will mean that our universities will require funding to be able to expand their infrastructure as well as support students who might be intelligent but needy. This is why Phoenix Insurance is leading the way as a reputable corporate institution to support the University of Ghana,' he added.

Mr Adu-Sarkodee therefore called on other corporate organisations to join to plan for the expansion of lecture halls and residential accommodation and also look at how to ensure that the huge numbers did not affect the quality of teaching.

Mr Henry Bukari, the Managing Director of Phoenix Insurance, said Phoenix Insurance believed that when they invested in students today, they will only be preparing great minds to take over the management of the company when they were gone.

He assured Ghanaians particularly patrons of insurance products of his outfit's commitment to contributing significant portions of the business' profit into addressing challenges in communities therefore doing business with them only meant that they were helping build Ghana.

Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, expressed gratitude to Phoenix Insurance and the CDH Group for their timely support, adding that, it was a good start for the endowment fund and expressed the hope that the rest of corporate Ghana will emulate the step to ensure that the bond between industry and academia was further deepened.

The University Don added that the University was focused on improving on residential and lecture hall facilities as well as getting more lecturers to ensure the teacher-student contact was not short-changed in view of the expected intake due to the free SHS programme.

The Group CEO of CDH Group announced at the 2017 Congregation of the Colleges of Health Sciences and Basic and Applied Sciences of the University of Ghana, Legon, where he was the special guest of honour, a GH¢ 250,000.00 donation to support the University's Endowment Fund.