There are awards and there are awards!
In the banking industry in particular, there is a motley of awards. But top on the ladder of awards in banking is the Euromoney Regional and Country Awards for Excellence for which the Ecobank Group was today named Africa’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility for 2020.
The leading pan-African banking group is rolling out the drums and rightly proud to have won the coveted prize which is a recognition of Ecobank’s focus on sustainability and partnerships and its core capabilities in delivering positive social and environmental outcomes across Africa.
Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence are the awards that matter to the banks and bankers who matter. They were established in 1992 and were the first of their kind in the global banking industry. This year, Euromoney received almost 1,000 submissions from banks in its regional and country awards programme that covers more than 50 regional awards and best bank awards in close to 100 countries.
The award for Ecobank was announced at 12 noon London time today and it is indeed a plus for the bank and a major boost for its customers too, that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has continued to pursue a Corporate Social Responsibility objective that is worthy of emulation by others.
Commenting on the award, Chief Operating Officer of Ecobank Foundation Carl Manlan, said: “At Ecobank we leverage human capabilities and other core resources to partner for African transformation. We are passionate about co-designing partnerships to drive change at community levels across our pan-African footprint. The Euromoney Award for Excellence recognises our collaboration with African communities and like-minded partners.”
In the same vein, Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group noted that the Ecobank Foundation was doing amazing work in delivering on its commitment to improve the quality of life of people across the African continent, stressing that the Foundation should be rightly proud of its ceaseless impact and the real difference that it is making in numerous parts of the continent.
Through the Foundation, Ayeyemi said, the Group leverages its resources and capabilities to contribute to the economic and social development of Africa.
Ecobank’s Corporate Responsibility primarily concentrates on the three key areas of health, education and financial inclusion. Recent partnership examples include:
- Ecobank’s three-year campaign to raise awareness of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and educate communities by providing key information about the dietary and lifestyle changes required to help prevent NCDs such as cancer and diabetes. Ecobank Day is a volunteer community day targeted at helping the vulnerable sectors in the local communities.
- Ecobank’s Group Chairman Sustainability Award which emphasises the bank’s role in each country in designing innovative, replicable and scalable solutions driving sustainable environmental and social change. Ecobank Togo is the 2020 winner for its support for Government efforts to provide electricity to 300,000 rural households and businesses through solar energy kits.
- Ecobank contributed about US$3 million in the form of cash, healthcare equipment and medical supplies in pursuit of its position that African economies’ health recovery is vital. Moreover, Ecobank deployed its financial capabilities for the African Union’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to enable every citizen and member of the diaspora to contribute to the pan-African Covid-19 response.
- Earlier this month, Ecobank rolled out its ‘Zero Malaria Business Leadership initiative.’ Launched in partnership with Speak Up Africa, it aims to eliminate malaria across Africa through private sector led initiatives which increase financing and take stronger and better-targeted actions to support national malaria control programmes.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of the Ecobank Group, the leading independent pan-African banking group serving more than 23 million customers in the consumer, commercial and corporate banking sectors across 33 African countries. The Group has a banking license in France and representative offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Beijing, China; London, the UK and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. ETI is listed on the Nigerian and Ghana Stock Exchanges as well as the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières in Abidjan.
IMAGE CREDIT: Euromoney.com, Ecobank.com
