By Stanley Senya
Accra, Oct. 20, GNA – Mr Thompson Kawoktu Kombat, a Doctor of Pharmacy graduate of the University for Development Studies (UDS), has overcome financial difficulties to graduate with distinction, following support from the MTN Ghana Foundation’s Bright Scholarship programme.
Mr Kombat, who graduated in November 2025, also received awards as the Overall Best Male Graduating Student of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Overall Best Student in the Department of Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicine at the university’s 26th Congregation.
His academic achievement followed years of financial challenges that nearly delayed his tertiary education after completing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2018.
Despite his excellent results, he spent a year at home in Nakpanduri in the North East Region because his family could not afford the admission fees to university.
He gained admission to UDS in 2019 to study Doctor of Pharmacy, but financing his education remained a challenge.
Mr Kombat relied on his mobile phone for academic work because he did not have a laptop, while the death of his mother during his second year and his father’s difficulties in accessing retirement benefits compounded the family’s financial challenges.
He said the MTN Bright Scholarship, which he discovered while searching online for financial assistance, became a turning point in his academic journey.
Selected at the end of his Level 300 year, the scholarship covered his tuition and accommodation, provided a stipend for daily expenses and supplied him with a laptop to support his studies and research.
“For the first time, I felt relief from the constant burden of worrying about tuition and accommodation fees. Before the scholarship, every academic year came with anxiety about how to settle school bills, and that uncertainty often affected my concentration,” he said.
Mr Kombat said the support strengthened his determination to excel, describing the scholarship as both financial assistance and a vote of confidence in his abilities.
He has since passed his professional licensure examination and is a registered pharmacist, awaiting his housemanship posting.
Mr Kombat said he hoped to specialise in industrial pharmacy, focusing on drug formulation, development and research, and pursue a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Technology to contribute to the growth of Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry.
He expressed gratitude to the MTN Ghana Foundation for supporting his education and helping him to overcome the financial barriers that threatened his academic ambitions.
The scholarship beneficiary’s experience forms part of stories highlighting the impact of the programme as MTN Ghana marks 30 years of operations under the theme, “30 Years of Progress, Power to You”.
The MTN Bright Scholarship is an initiative of the MTN Ghana Foundation that supports academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students in public tertiary institutions.
The programme provides assistance with tuition, accommodation, stipends for reading materials and laptops to help beneficiaries pursue their education.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei