GN-Reinsurance, in collaboration with the University of Ghana (UG), has officially announced a GHS150, 000 Pension and Insurance Research Fund to support pension and insurance related research.
The fund targets full PhD students with an allocation of about GHS12, 000 a year, with the amount expected to increase in future as GN Re sees increased business success.
The event brought together members from academia, researchers, sector players and students.
Director of the GN Research Fund, Dr. Isaac Baidoo, told to the Goldstreet Business, that the fund seeks to bring researches from the lecture halls and university libraries to connect and address societal challenges.
He maintained that several research documents remain on shelves in most universities without being utilized.
On the other hand, industries in Ghana, do not take advantage of research to address their challenges.
“That is the gap we want to bridge by ensuring solid collaborations between industry and universities through research utilization,” he said.
Dr. Baidoo said the funding process will be done through colloquiums to consider relevant doctoral level research papers and sponsoring them to contribute to industrial growth.
“We are starting from the University of Ghana, and may be extending it to other universities in the future,” he explained.
With an initial funding amount of GHS150, 000, the fund is expected to increase in value with regard to level of interest and patronage.
CEO of GN Reinsurance, Mr Joseph Kusi-Tieku, explained the need to fund research activities in the areas of pension and insurance.
He said issues such as payments of appropriate premium for the risk cover that take care of a person taking the risk when the cover is matured were very critical areas that needed to be researched into.
He, therefore, called on corporate organizations to partner academic and research institutions to undertake research in the critical sectors of their operations.
Vice-Chancellor of UG, Professor Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu, appealed to other insurance practitioners to collaborate with academia to bridge the gap between the two entities.
He noted that one of the surest ways to discover the missing link between academia and the corporate world was to promote research in the pension and insurance sectors.
The event was on the theme: ‘Pensions and Insurance Policies, Regulations and Practice, the Missing Link’.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe