Head, Risk and Investor Relations, UT Bank, Accra, Ghana. Age: 39
Adjoa Halm-Quagrainie heads the Investor Relations and Risk Management section at UT Financial Services Ltd., now UT Bank, the leading nonbank financial institution in Ghana specializing in loans and investment. Recently voted Ghana?s most respected company, UT Bank for the past decade has been dedicated to serving the needs of local traders and business entities that are not being catered to by traditional banks. Halm-Quagrainie herself also caters to the disenfranchised, particularly the youth. ?I have identified the young people as my community,? she says. She currently sponsors one high-school student and a student in Film College.
Halm-Quagrainie has succeeded in building a financial team at UT Bank that increased the bank?s investment portfolio to $120,000 in 2009 from $7,000 in 2003. She began her career as a math tutor at Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast, Ghana, and boasts of the academic achievement of more than 200 young girls who came under her tutelage. ?My main achievements have been in the field of girl science education, where I groomed and presented students from my high school to a National Mathematics and Science Quiz where we came second from over thirty-two high schools in Ghana,? she says.
?The study of math and science enhances the girl?s logical and functional skills, as well as her ability to understand abstract and complex problems.?
Halm-Quagrainie graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a bachelor?s degree in mathematics and a diploma in education, and from the University of Ghana with a master?s in philosophy and statistics. She envisions setting up a math and science clinic for girls 6 to 10 years old. ?Mathematics and science make significant contributions to our modern society. Their basic skills are vital for the life opportunities of the youth and they develop the mind and those highly valued cognitive skills required for scientific and technological advancement,? she says.
Fun facts
Favorite food: Boiled yam and palava sauce
Facebook or LinkedIn: LinkedIn
Movie theater or home theater: Home theater
What actor should play you in a movie: Queen Latifah
Last movie: Tyler Perry?s Why Did I Get Married?
List the languages you speak: English, Fanti, GA
Motivational quote: If it must be done, it must be done wholeheartedly and well
Favorite sports team: Black Stars