University of Ghana Celebrates Founding Fathers with Memorial Lectures

The Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecture Series, instituted in 1957, commemorates the contributions of three distinguished individuals to the founding of Achimota College, now Achimota School, where the University of Ghana originated.

This year’s lecture, themed Her Money, Her Power: Making Finance Work for Women, is a two-day discourse on redesigning financial systems to better serve women. The lecture series not only honors these founding fathers but also highlights their impact on the advancement of education, particularly higher education in Ghana.

Honorees of the Lecture Series

The three individuals honored by this lecture series are:

Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey
A pioneering Ghanaian scholar, Dr. Aggrey is renowned for his famous quote: “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”

Reverend Alexander Garden Fraser
The first principal of Achimota College, Fraser was a visionary Scottish educationist who advocated for education in the Gold Coast at a time when skepticism about the educational potential of Africans was widespread.

Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg
Regarded as one of the most effective administrators Britain sent to govern a West African colony, Guggisberg was ahead of his time in implementing policies that laid the foundation for Ghana’s present progress.

Keynote Address on Women and Finance

Mrs. Josephine Anan, a highly respected international banker with over three decades of experience in treasury management, strategy execution, investment, and commercial banking, delivered a powerful keynote address during the lecture. She emphasized the need to create more opportunities for women, who remain systematically excluded from mainstream financial services.

“I would like to express my profound gratitude to the leadership of the University of Ghana for organizing this Memorial Lecture. This conversation is not about incremental fixes but about power. Women don’t just need access to finance; they need financial ecosystems intentionally built for them—ones that recognize their economic influence, understand their realities, and propel them toward wealth creation and financial leadership,” she explained.

“Her money, her power is not just a slogan; it is an economic transformation waiting to unfold. The question is not whether finance can work for women, but whether we have the vision, courage, and urgency to ensure that it does. When women control their money, they control their future—and when that happens, the world wins,” she concluded.

By Madjid Diallo || GhanaNewsOnline