Opportunity International Savings and Loans (Opportunity International) in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation has granted scholarships to 180 needy but brilliant students across the country.

Out of the 180 students, 100 are female and 80 are male. 21 out of the lot are orphans.

The scholarship covers 80% of the cost of school fees for two academic years to a tune of GHS 152,925 (USD 35,564).

A total of sixty (60) private schools from which the pupils were selected from has benefited from this program. The beneficiaries were selected from schools whose proprietors are School Improvement Loans clients of Opportunity International.

Student beneficiaries :

• are in their final 2 years of primary or secondary education
• come from families who have difficulties in paying school fees
• are exceptionally talented or intelligent
• were highly recommended by their teachers to receive financial support

The selection criteria for beneficiaries was a transparent process involving the school proprietors and teachers. They identified the top 3 pupils with high performances yet struggled to pay their fees.

Some of the qualified school representatives converged at the Highgate Hotel in Accra for the presentation of the cheques for their students during a workshop programme on ‘School Leadership Professional Development’.

The CEO of Opportunity International, Mr. Kwame Owusu-Boateng praised the proprietors for their contribution to education in Ghana. He encouraged them to take advantage of the products and services available under the education finance programme at Opportunity International to expand their school infrastructure.

The representatives subsequently expressed their appreciation to Opportunity International for their innovative products that continue to meet the needs of parents as well as the schools.

This scholarship is funded by The MasterCard Foundation as part of its Africa Growth and Innovations Initiative project.

Opportunity International Savings and Loans is a leading Non-Bank Financial Institution, licensed by Bank of Ghana with a focus on formal transformational Banking in the Micro Finance space.

It currently serves a total of 485,000 depositors across Ghana and it is a subsidiary of Opportunity International, which has 47 partners in 24 countries across the globe.