Several less privileged and deprived persons in the Northern, Upper West and Volta regions will henceforth have an extra option other than depending solely on government interventions such as the Free SHS and National Health Insurance scheme (NHIS) to support them with their educational and health needs.

This is as a result of the introduction of the UMB Foundation, an initiative by the Universal Merchant Bank in collaboration with UMB Capital to provide assistance for rural folks in the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the foundation Tuesday, August 1, 2017, Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Yvonne Botchey indicated that the initiative is targeted specifically at the brilliant but needy students and students with special needs to help bring relief to parents as well as impact the lives of many in the society.

“If you look at our key focus areas and the strategic areas within them, we actually have the target audience within each strategic objective….under education, we are looking at providing scholarship programs for brilliant but needy students and special needs students as well”, she said.

The foundation according to her, also seeks to assist in providing easy and quick access to quality healthcare for a specific targeted audience as well as support the provision of improved medical facilities, supplies and resources.

“We have under health, those without financial means that need to have specific medical treatments for critical health conditions”.

She explained that the initiative will go a long way to create long term, lasting and meaningful impact in the targeted areas, adding that other regions would be incorporated in the program subsequently when the major targeted areas have been completely covered.

“We do hope that once we are able to complete our initial projects, we will be looking at other areas as well”, she stated.

The UMB Foundation is an independent philanthropic entity whose sole mandate is to create meaningful and sustainable social and civic impact in Ghana.

The foundation will streamline the corporate social responsibility initiatives of UMB Bank and UMB Capital through investing in the areas of education, health and projects that celebrate and promote Ghanaian heritage and culture.

UMB Foundation is targeting the areas of education in the Volta Region, Health in the Northern and Upper West regions and the celebration of Ghanaian Heritage and Culture in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions.