Mr Ernest Akwasi Appiah, the Managing Director (MD) of Enepa Ventures Limited and Agricultural Manufacturing Group Company (AMG),on Wednesday presented GH¢1million Cheque to the School of Public Health (SPH) and the Department of Horticulture of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.
The Dean of the SPH, Prof. Sam Newton, said the fund would help expand infrastructure for public health education at KNUST, increase enrolment and help address current public health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Appiah, an entrepreneur, explained that the generous donation was made in response to a request from Dr Eli Gaveh, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Horticulture, to help the university’s ongoing activities.
He further said that each academic year, he intended to grant scholarships to 20 deserving SPH and Faculty of Agriculture students in line with his passion that financial challenge should not be a barrier to education.
On behalf of the university, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, thanked Mr Appiah for his considerate gift and assured that the money would be put to good use and due recognition would be given to him for his current gesture and any future support to the university.
He welcomed other well-meaning Ghanaians and cooperate bodies to emulate the shining example from Mr Appiah and AMG.
In terms of scholarship awards, Prof. Owusu-Dabo explained that there were stringent criteria in place for identifying outstanding, but underprivileged students, assuring the delegation that scholarships would be given to worthy beneficiaries.
Prof. Christian Agyare, Provost of the College of Health Sciences and Prof. Enoch Osekre, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, and the Provost of the College of Agriculture also thanked Mr Appiah and AMG for the donation.
Dr Eli Gaveh, an Agronomist and Business Strategist, who facilitated the funding, suggested that the dedication of Mr Appiah to build AMG and Enepa into strong indigenous brands should be hailed to spur entrepreneurial drive among university graduates and other youth.
In another meeting, the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Professor (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson, was delighted for the support and gave firm commitment of the university to support AMG and any other benevolent entity with excellent publicity, brand building, research and product development.
AMG is the country’s largest indigenous manufacturer and distributor of high-efficiency and high-performance crop fertilisers, having been formed in 2012.
They provide crop nutrition product/strategy to small and large-scale farmers that ensures high yields by implementing less expensive, but highly effective crop nutrition combinations, better crops, raise farmer returns, improve farmer livelihood and ensure food security and sustainable development. The visionary entrepreneur expanded his operations to aid in the strengthening of Ghana’s economy and empowerment of farmers across the 16 regions and 256 districts of the country through the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign.
BY TIMES REPORTER
