About 300 girls selected from 23 Senior High Schools in the Ashanti, Bono, and Western North regions benefited from opportunities to learn about practical application of STEM that will contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals, at a boot camp in Kumasi.

Learning activities at the 5-day camp included career development and growth, critical thinking in design management, effective communication and pitching, introduction to scientific literature review, artificial intelligence, as well as mentorship.

These together with the various practical STEM competitions, provided hands-on experience to students as well as a comprehensive developmental program to prepare the girls for a competitive labor market in the STEM fields.

Speaking on why Stanbic is keen on inculcating the love of STEM into young girls and women, the Head of Brand and Marketing at Stanbic Bank, Mawuko Afadzinu said:

“One of the things we’re passionate about as a bank is to trigger students’ participation in the STEM fields, especially girls, by giving them an opportunity to learn about various career paths and develop an interest in the field, sparking their creativity and research skills thus leading to job creation and poverty alleviation in Ghana. The innovations by these students can go a long way in making our planet sustainable and the social space thriving. This is one of the partnerships that give us the opportunity to support the dreams of our younger ones and give back to the community”.

The girls were divided into teams and tasked to come up with exciting ways to use knowledge in STEM to solve everyday challenges. At the end of the programme, Group H emerged champions with their rapid analysis of aflatoxins in food project. The other finalists developed a technique for plant dye extraction, a locally made breast cancer screening phantom, plant leaf disease detection, Pest/Birds Detection (Scarecrow Sounds), breast cancer detection, and brain tumor detection using artificial intelligence (AI).

Leader of group W, Princess Debby Bempomah Martey from St. Monica’s Girls Senior High School shared her excitement at their presentation and thanked Stanbic Bank for the opportunity.

She said, “I have learned from this camp that artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant value due to its increasing impact on multiple aspects of society.

The field's rapid growth offers abundant career opportunities across industries, fostering innovation and problem-solving skills. Our brain tumor detection project confirmed that AI's role in automation and data analysis truly enhances efficiency and decision-making. I am really grateful to Stanbic for making this event possible, it has given us knowledge and the confidence we need to make it in any STEM field we choose”, she said.

President, of KNUST WiSTEM, Prof Mbok Oduro urged parents to give their daughters the same support they give the boy child when it comes to choosing STEM courses or careers. She also thanked the team from Stanbic for making it possible for girls from C schools to interact and learn with girls from A and B schools.

“We want to say a big thank you to Stanbic Bank for partnering this initiative. Logistics needed to host over 300 girls for 5 days is no joke; Stanbic came on board to make sure the camp was not only successful but fun and very engaging. We are grateful for the cash, branded souvenirs, and their active participation throughout the period”.

Stanbic Bank Ghana has partnered with many academic institutions and FinTechs to deliver a number of STEM-related projects which have so far given beneficiaries access to about 300 mentors and advisors across 48 disciplines and technical areas, access to structured training programs and curriculum, internship opportunities with Stanbic Bank, and other partners, and due diligence simulations for student entrepreneurs, most of which are women.