Each of the beneficiaries of the scholarship package, a male and female student of the University of Energy and Natural Resources and the University of Mines and Technology, received GH¢22,608.80 cash.

The other 10 were apprentices engaged in welding and fabrication, hair dressing, and dressmaking and they received industrial sewing machines, dryers, and other tools worth GH¢5,652.20 each.

They were picked from Wamahinso, Ntotroso, Kenyasi Number One, Kenyasi Number Two and Gyedu. Speaking at the short ceremony at Ntotroso, a mining town, Professor Yaw Fosu Kusi, the Board Chair of NADEF, an organisation responsible for executing Newmont's Corporate Social Responsibility progams in the communities said the support was under the NADEF/UMA Community Excellence Scholarship and Apprenticeship Award programme. The programme seeks to promote and support education and vocational skills training in the mine host communities.

Prof Kusi stressed that the Foundation was committed to providing scholarships to more of the students in the area, while creating opportunities for others to engage in employable skills training to find jobs for themselves.

On completion, he said the foundation would also provide start-up tools and capital to the apprentices to set up their own businesses and asked them to take their training seriously.
Prof. Kusi said so far, a total of 13,489 youth had benefited from NADEF's scholarship programs, an investment amounting to GH¢35.4 million since 2009.

"The NADEF/UMA and Liebherr Ghana collaborations have significantly enhanced the reach and value of the scholarships we offer towards achieving sustainable development," he stated, saying the scholarship program was designed to support the education of motivated, highly driven, and brilliant young people within the local communities.

Prof. Kusi advised the youth in the area to capitalise on the package and learn hard or engage in employable skill training to better their lots.