FMN, George Coumantaros Award €46,800 Postgraduate Scholarships

The Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) in collaboration with George Coumantaros Foundation has awarded deserving candidates postgraduate education scholarships of €46,800 worth over N30m.

The two successful candidates for the 2022 FMN – GCF postgraduate scholarship programme are Edegbo Simon Ojonugwa, who holds a BSc in Agriculture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduating from the top of his class, and Ezeonu Alfred Chukwubuikem, a graduate of Food Engineering from the University of Uyo. 

Based on the awardees’ courses of choice, Simon Edegbo will be studying for MSc in Sustainable Agriculture and Management while Alfred Ezeonu will be studying for an MSc. In New Food Product and Business Development at the American Farm School, in Greece.

Through its commitment to feeding the nation every day, Nigeria’s market leader within the foods and agro-allied sector and the owner of the iconic food brand, Golden Penny, FMN in collaboration with the George Coumantaros Foundation gave the award.

The cheque presentation event, which took place on 23 September 2022 at the group’s head office, Golden Penny Place in Apapa Lagos, had some of its management officially present the cheques to the beneficiaries.

The FMN-George Coumantaros Foundation Scholarship scheme is a post-graduate scholarship programme in conjunction with the American Farm School (AFS) and Perrotis College in Greece. 

The programme is designed to afford worthy Nigerians an opportunity to broaden their horizon and acquire relevant skills and knowledge that can be further reinvested within the nation’s economy.

The FMN Director, Group Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, Mr Sadiq Usman stated, “When we feed the nation, every day, our impact goes beyond food processing and provision for Nigerians as we also feed possibilities and growth through our CSR and sustainability projects like the FMN-George Coumantaros Foundation Scholarship Program. 

“Through this programme, we are looking at creating an avenue where Nigerians would acquire knowledge and skills in line with socio-economic demands.”

More so, to ensure that the scholarship programme is afforded to the most deserving Nigerian students, we ensured that the selection process is transparent and seamless, from the computer-based tests to live interviews with subject matter experts from the American Farm School and Perrotis College, the process was handled with utmost professionalism. 

“Over 900 competitive applications were received but in the long run, the chosen two were able to meet most of the eligibility tests thus their qualification. As a Group, FMN will continue to invest in human capital development to ensure that we all can attain our envisaged future as a nation,” he added. 

Speaking on the expectations from the awardees and the foundation, the Programme Director, George Coumantaros Foundation, Kyriakos Kyriakopoulos said, “With this scholarship programme, we have set in motion, a transformative process that would allow young Nigerians to adopt growth-driven strategies from various faculties of knowledge and be able to translate this knowledge into meaningful growth in Nigeria. 

“We believe and hope that the selected candidates would put in their best to ensure that they maximise this opportunity given to them and as always we would be there to provide the needed support across their various touchpoints. Their success is our mandate.”