Postgraduate Business student awarded £60K RGA Scholarship
One of the largest global providers of life reinsurance – the Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA) – has awarded a Swansea University Business student Ola Olaosebikan a £60K scholarship to support her three year doctoral research.
Ms Olaosebikan, aged 28, originally from Lagos in Nigeria, graduated from the University in 2009 with a distinction in MSc Management Finance.
She will begin her PhD examining the determinants of the underwriting profitability of micro-insurance in selected African countries on October 1, 2010.
The RGA Scholarship will support activities including data gathering, conference attendance, hardware and software requirements and attending the RGA South African subsidiary in Cape Town.
Graham Watson, Chief Executive Officer, RGA International Corporation, said “RGA is committed to supporting initiatives that promote the insurance industry throughout the world. We are pleased to provide scholarship funding to Ms Olaosebikan to support her doctoral research
in the growing field of micro insurance and helping the industry more fully understand the potential of this promising market.”
Ms Olaosebikan, who was also the 2009 Grant Thornton Prize Winner in the EBFM 07 –Derivatives and Risk Management module, said: “I am delighted to be returning to Swansea University to undertake my PhD studies. I am extremely grateful to the RGA for the opportunity given
to me through their financial support and also to my Principal
Supervisor Professor Mike Adams from the School for his continued guidance.”
Ms Olaosebikan’s PhD research will be supervised by Professor Adams and Dr Osman Outtara from the School of Business and Economics.
Professor Adams said: “My colleagues at the School and I are delighted that a major international financial services corporation such as RGA are sponsoring Ola’s research on the micro-insurance industry in Africa.
“Her research has potentially significant commercial implications for multinational insurers operating in Africa, as well as having prospectively important public policymaking implications for international development organisations and aid agencies.”
For more information on the Reinsurance Group of America visit http://rgare.com/, and for more information on the School of Business and Economics at Swansea University, visit http://www.swansea.ac.uk/business/.