Three win UK Alumni awards

The best way to promote economic growth and address the huge youth unemployment problem in the country is for deliberate structures to be instituted for entrepreneurship to thrive, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airtel Ghana, Mrs Lucy Quist, has observed.

She said the traditional structures in sub-Saharan African countries did not create room for the entrepreneurial potential of its human resource to be properly harnessed.

"The people in sub-Saharan Africa are poor because the system is designed to keep them poor. Until we begin to re-orient our mindset and challenge the status quo, the numerous development challenges will continue to weigh us down and make us poorer," she said.

She made these observations last Saturday at the maiden “UK Alumni Awards,” an initiative by the British Council, Ghana, to celebrate the alumni of British universities who have impacted lives and addressed national challenges through their activities.

Awardees

At the event, three out of 12 finalists received the outstanding UK alumni awards three categories: Professional Achievement Award, Entrepreneurial Award and Social Impact Award.

A Judge of the High Court, stationed in the Land Court in Accra, Mr Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah, received the top award in the Professional Achievement category for his contribution to justice delivery and building the capacity of many budding lawyers.

For the Entrepreneurial Award category, Mr Sesinam Dagadu was celebrated for his innovative postal address location service that enables 8.7 million people to get their codes and call the ambulance service in terms of emergency, especially in remote areas.

The Social Impact category was won by Mr Gameli Adzaho, a public health professional and educator, for his "Global Lab Ghana" initiative that uses social media to connect and mentor students in colleges.

The awardees each received a memento and other packages while the other nine finalists were also recognised at the event.

Work hard

The Country Director of the British Council, Mrs Lilian Biglou Obe, urged the awardees and other alumni of UK education to continue to explore innovative means to address key national challenges.

She said the UK education system instilled the principles of excellence, punctuality and discipline in students and added that those virtues ought to reflect in all UK alumni.

The awardees pledged their commitment to work harder to develop the country.