Mrs. Patience Tsegah of Unicom Chemist Ltd has won the 8th Ghana Women of Excellence Awards in the category of ‘Healthcare (Pharmacy),’ in recognition of her remarkable contribution to social and economic development of Ghana.

The award was presented to the industrious Lady pharmacist at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in North Ridge, Accra earlier in March this year.

This year’s Ghana Women of Excellence Awards Dinner was held at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, North Ridge, Accra on Saturday, 11th March, 2023 to commemorate International Women’s Day. The event was under the theme: ‘Empowering the Ghanaian Woman for National Development’, The awards ceremony was organised by Top Brass Ghana under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide on 8th March. In Ghana, the erstwhile Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs mandated in 2010 that the occasion be commemorated with the Ghana Women of Excellence Awards Scheme. Accordingly, the 1st Ghana Women of Excellence Awards Ceremony was organised on 9th March 2011. Subsequent editions of the awards were staged in 2012, 2015 and annually since 2019.

According to Mr. Isaac Dakwa, Director of Top Brass Ghana, the primary objective of the scheme is to motivate Ghanaian women to strive for excellence in their various walks of life, and to take their rightful places in the national development process.

An enterprising practising Pharmacist, Patience Tsegah is the Managing Director of Unicom Chemist Limited. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (1989) and MSc. degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Robert Gordon University, Scotland (1998).

She is also a graduate of the Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Africa Programme (WELA) which is a practical, hands-on programme that examines the issues, challenges and opportunities women face in creating, managing and leading business entities in Africa.

On account of her unwavering commitment to the extension of quality but affordable healthcare to the Ghanaian populace, Patience has over the years spearheaded the expansion of Unicom from a single retail outlet to as many as 30 (thirty) branches made up of both retail and wholesale facilities. This has positioned Unicom as one of the top pharmacies in Ghana. Altogether, Unicom now commands a workforce in excess of 200 (two hundred comprising several professionally qualified pharmacists as well as other skilled workers.

Within the context of Patience’s sense of Corporate Social Responsibility, Unicom has donated cash and pharmaceutical products to public and private institutions such as the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), 37 Military Hospital and the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. Also, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, she played a critical role by ensuring the sustained availability of PPEs, supplements and supplies which were essential in the fight against the pandemic.