Partner Article

Dr Alvaro Sobrinho Commends Education Partnership

In an effort to bolster scientific education and innovation in Africa a group of business leaders in partnership with several African governments and the World Bank have come together and launched a scholarship fund for African PhD students.

The fund, named the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund, will go live in June 2016. With $5 million in funding pledged by the various parties involved, the fund aims to award 10,000 PhD scholarships to African students over a 10-year period. To apply students will need to be carrying out research in a scientific field.

The partnership that led to the formation of the fund includes the governments of Senegal, Rwanda and Ethiopia, along with a group of leading African businessmen working through the recently formed African Business Champions for Science group.

Alvaro Sobrinho, chairman of the African Business Champions for Science group, expressed his confidence in the partnerships ability to take African development to a new level,

“Led by the African Governments and in partnership with business leaders and the World Bank, we want to go beyond philanthropy to find innovative ways to properly link industry with scientific and technical excellence for the long-term”

Sobrinho has commended the willingness of the partners to commit to funding scientific education in Africa and expressed his belief in the potential for science and innovation to overcome the continents development challenges.

Dr Alvaro Sobrinho has dedicated himself to the cultivation of scientific development in Africa. Not only by chairing the African Business Champions for Science group but also through his work with the Planet Earth Institute.

The partnership has benefited from the shared vision of its leading members. The President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, in agreement with Sobrinho, explained that it is necessary for Africa to “train and employ a great number of scientists, engineers, and technicians to achieve the structural transformation that Africa needs.”

Dr Alvaro Sobrinho concluded that the scholarship fund is “for the benefit of us all.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by chris glave .