First Bank of Nigeria Limited today flagged off the second edition of its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week in eight countries where it operates.
The week-long event with the theme ‘Touching Lives; You First’ will enable the bank’s employees the opportunity to commit their time and resources in the service of humanity.
The event, which is being commemorated across its business communities in Nigeria, United Kingdom, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, reflects the bank’s brand promise to always put stakeholder needs first, while also reinforcing the bank’s role in promoting sustainable development in communities where it operates.
According to the bank, the CR&S Week will culminate and consolidate the bank’s interventions in social responsibility, promoting random acts of kindness across 800 communities to reignite acts of kindness in our society.
The event’s activities are tailored towards re-orientating the society along the right values; encouraging the citizenry to intentionally create positive impact in their immediate environment.
Some of the major highlights of this year’s commemoration include, Promoting Acts of Random Kindness in over 800 Business Communities. This initiative, which was launched last year as Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness, has been extended to give opportunities to everyone who wants to participate.
Consequently, it has been tagged ‘Start Promoting Acts of Random Kindness’ (SPARK) and a Giving platform has been put in place to encourage all interested parties to donate to humanitarian causes. All stakeholders are encouraged to nominate people they believe are deserving of kindness.
According to the lender, nominations can be sent to spark@firstbanknigeria.com with supporting reasons in not more than 100 words and entries close on June 23, 2018.
Under the Giving and Visits to Orphanages/Less Privileged Homes Across Sub-Saharan Africa and United Kingdom, the bank’s employees will drive welfare through visits to homes of the less privileged and elderly across the bank’s areas of operations in Sub-saharan Africa and the United Kingdom to present the items, which have been procured based on a prior needs assessment at the chosen locations.
Also, in the Career counseling for over 3000 students, the bank’s Executive Management and staff will deliver impactful career counseling sessions with secondary school students across the regions to inculcate financial literacy and inclusion in young students.
Similarly, under the Provision of Vision Screening and Eye Glasses for 2000 People programme, the Bank is partnering with VisionSpring to provide vision screening and affordable eye glasses for consumers earning less than $4 per day. The initiative is structured around three social impact themes: See to Earn, See to Learn, and See to be Safe to impact the lifestyles of their communities.
In the Empowerment for over 500 Widows programme, as part of the week’s activities, the bank will also commemorate the International Widows Day (IWD) on June 23, 2018 and is partnering with the International Women’s Society (IWS) to empower women, especially widows that will be present at an event organised to commemorate the IWD.
FirstBank’s CR&S Week is tailored to spotlight the bank’s corporate citizenship interventions to drive positive impact across various communities all in one week.
Speaking on the initiative, the bank’s Managing Director, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, said that the 2018 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability week would amplify the bank’s Employee Giving and Volunteering scheme “as we all collaborate across our business communities to create sustainable impact, touch lives and make our societies a better place to live.”
