Caroline Awuye: the President who handed over, but never left
As President in 2025–2026, Caroline brought Ghanaian students in Japan face to face with the Jospong Group and helped build GRAIN, the Global Research and Innovation Network. She mentored the President who followed her and is still at the leadership's side.
By GSU-Japan
Part of the team behind the 10th Anniversary Symposium · Programme ConsultantMeet the whole teamOn 24 August 2025, Ghanaian students in Japan gathered at the Minato Mirai Center Building in Yokohama to meet the Jospong Group of Companies and its founder, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong (Students Meet the Jospong Group). For GSU-Japan it was something the union had wanted for a long time: its students connected with a major company from home. The person who organised it was the union's President, Caroline Awuye, who had taken office in 2025.
How the meeting came about
The meeting did not happen by chance. In August 2025, Dr. Siaw Agyepong was in Japan for TICAD 9, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, where Dr. Daniel Twum-Ampofo, then a GSU-Japan student member and now an alumnus, pitched a business idea to him. He wanted to know how much talent Ghana had among its students in Japan. Caroline reached out to him, and together they decided to bring the students together for one meeting.
Japan's universities are spread across the country, and travel is costly for students. Dr. Siaw Agyepong paid for every student's transport, and Caroline organised the meeting.
Building GRAIN
The idea of GRAIN, the Global Research and Innovation Network, was born from that meeting between the Jospong Group and Ghanaian students in Japan (What is GRAIN?). Caroline was pivotal in setting up GRAIN for the Jospong Group worldwide, and she coordinated its development.
When the Group invited GSU-Japan members to Ghana in October 2025, she was part of the team that visited ten of its companies (the visit). On 2 January 2026, in Accra, she signed the memorandum of understanding with the Jospong Group for GRAIN (MyJoyOnline's report of the signing). She heads the GRAIN Japan chapter, which was launched on 29 April 2026 at the opening of our 10th anniversary year (10th Anniversary Opening & GRAIN Launch).
Stepping down, never leaving
When her 2025–2026 term ended, Caroline handed over to Dr. Floret Maame Owusu, whom she had mentored. She did not step away. She remains actively involved in the union's affairs, and whenever the President needs advice, Caroline is there to give it. She has stepped down, yet to the union it is as if she never left.
That showed in our 10th anniversary year. Caroline helped with the celebration's activities and served as Programme Consultant on the team behind the 10th Anniversary Symposium in August 2026.
Beyond GSU-Japan
Caroline is a Ghanaian public-sector professional, researcher and advocate for international cooperation, with more than ten years of experience in local governance, public administration, stakeholder engagement and development coordination. Her work has spanned public-sector administration, urban sustainability research and international business development, where she has carried out international market research and helped Japanese businesses explore overseas markets.
She holds an MA in Governance and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and an MPhil in Social Innovation Science from Hiroshima University, completed with our March 2026 graduating class. She is also a member of the Africa Diaspora Network Japan (ADNJ), which works to strengthen Africa–Japan relations, diaspora engagement and youth participation in development.
Her commitment runs through all of it: stronger ties between Ghana and Japan, business partnerships that benefit both countries, and sustainable development through international cooperation.
