The Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC, Mansa Nettey has called on Pharmacy Schools and Colleges in Ghana to offer students the opportunity to pursue dual degree programs as means to optimize the pharmaceutical workforce.

The banking luminary cum pharmacist made this appeal when she gave the keynote address at the just-ended Annual General Meeting of Pharmacists held in Tamale. The AGM, which was held from the 29th of August to the 4th of September was under the theme “Optimizing the Pharmaceutical Workforce in a rapidly evolving world”

According to the thematic speaker for the AGM, a combination of the pharmacy programmes with other complementary courses such as an MBA can prove to be beneficial to pharmacists. Dual degree programs allow students to combine the competencies developed through the Doctor of Pharmacy program with a new set of competencies developed through their concurrent enrollment and completion of other professional or graduate degree programs.

For instance, research published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education suggested that pharmacists who pursued a PharmD/ MBA dual degree ‘reported increased career opportunities and were slated to earn significantly more during their first year in the workforce.

 About Mansa Nettey

Appointed in March 2017, Mansa, with over 20 years of experience in the banking industry, is currently Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC. As the first female CEO of the publicly listed franchise in its 126-year history, she continues to demonstrate leadership in the growth and diversity of its Management Team. She has been serving as the first female President of the Ghana Association of Banks since 2020.