Sagicor Foundation Hailed for its Investment in Education

The Sagicor Foundation has been hailed for its continued investment in the education of young Jamaicans.

Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, underscored that philanthropy is in the DNA of the charitable arm which has been awarding scholarships for over three decades.

“Year after year, Sagicor has been investing in our young people not just with financial support but with belief in them. Sagicor is a company that understands that your greatest returns are not only measured not on the balance sheet, but in the lives that you touch,” she said.

Dr. Morris Dixon was addressing Tuesday’s (August 12) Sagicor Foundation Scholarship Awards Ceremony held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, where 55 scholarships were awarded to secondary and tertiary students.

The 28 secondary scholarships are valued at $50,000 per year and will be provided for five years while the 27 tertiary scholarships, valued at $300,000, are renewable for up to four years.

Dr. Morris Dixon charged the scholarship recipients to think big and consider emerging careers.

“See it as you being chosen for bigger things. It’s a big deal that you’ve gotten this. It’s a very big deal that Sagicor has selected you and so you have now a responsibility to walk with your head very high because you’ve been selected and you’re backed by Sagicor,” she said.

Student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Calicia Vassell, copped the R. Danny Williams Visionary Award for Leadership and Volunteerism, while Northern Caribbean University (NCU) student, James Barrett, earned the Chairman’s Innovation Award.

Sagicor Foundation also awarded four athletes from the 2025 Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA)/Sagicor National Athletics Championship.

They are champion boys Kahneil Walford, Ashumor Morrison and Kellan Harris and champion girl, Antoya Lindsay.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Sagicor Foundation Jamaica, Christopher Zacca, shared that over the past 55 years education has been central to Sagicor’s mission.

He said the selection process was quite challenging as there were more than 1,400 applicants.

“But from that pool, our chosen scholars are from all over the island with budding doctors, lawyers, specialists, artists, architects, some politicians too, I’m sure and they’ve overcome real adversity and financial hardships, building with them the kind of resilience that is unmatched,” Mr. Zacca said.

He pointed out that the scholars were not only selected for their high academic achievements but because of other characteristics that set them apart.

“In a world that often asks young people to shrink or to wait your turn, you chose instead to show up with courage, with focus and with a hunger to rise and make a difference. That’s what made you 55 out of 1,400. You’re the kind of Jamaicans that we want to build more of and because we believe in the strengths of who you are becoming, we do not only hope for great things from you, we are preparing for them,” Mr. Zacca stated.