Ecobank Zambia Managing Director Kola Adeleke says the Bank takes its responsibility of assisting the community seriously
Mr Adeleke said the bank is focused on undertaking social work as part of its corporate social responsibility towards the communities in which it is present.
He was speaking on Saturday morning when he led a team of Ecobank Zambia staff in donating assorted items at Orphan’s Hope (Bethel Homes Orphanage) in Lusaka’s Avondale area as part of the 2018 Ecobank Day.The theme for Ecobank Day 2018 is ‘Supporting Young lives’.
Another team of Ecobank staff based on the Copperbelt made a donation to St. Anthony’s Children Village in Masala, Ndola.
St. Anthony’s Children Village has over 100 children while Orphan’s Hope has over 20 children.The Ecobank Day, an event that celebrated across 36 African Countries where Ecobank is present.
The bank’s employees come together to help a worthy cause, by volunteering their time to work hand in hand with members of the communities to improve the conditions of living of the vulnerable.
Many Ecobankers have given up their time to be here to support these activities. I’m sure you will agree this shows how strongly we all feel about giving back to our local communities. It makes me very proud of both the Bank I represent and the lifeblood – our staff.
“The objective is to institutionalize the “Ecobank Day” as a day in the year on which all affiliates across Africa undertake social work in furtherance of our corporate social responsibility towards the communities in which we are present,” Mr Adeleke said.
He said, “Ecobank is a pan-African bank of the people, for the people, and this comes with certain responsibilities, which we take very seriously.”
He added, “While our focus is very much on transforming the African banking landscape, and servicing our customers with convenient, cost-effective financial products, we also care very much about our local communities.”
“With this idea of giving back in mind, in 2013 we launched the Ecobank Day initiative, where our employees could come together to help a worthy cause, by volunteering their time to work hand in hand with members of our communities and support the important financial contribution made by the Bank to improve the conditions of living of the more vulnerable members of our communities.”
Mr Adeleke said the Bank has supported many worthy causes over the years and this year is no different.
“For instance, the theme for the 2015 Ecobank Day was “Every child in Africa deserves a better future”. In that year, we supported the children’s wing at Mazabuka General Hospital and Mulenga Community School in Kitwe. In 2016, under the theme “Improving Maternal Health care in Africa”, Ecobank donated maternity kits and various requirements to the maternity wings at Chipulukusu Clinic in Ndola and Chawama Clinic in Lusaka.”
“Last year, we celebrated Ecobank day with our three young girls from New Mtendere Secondary School and Kamulanga Secondary School.”
He said this was in order to address the challenges of inequalities in education adding that Ecobank Zambia committed to pay all the tuition and exam fees until university for all the three girls.
“In Kitwe, Ecobank celebrated Ecobank Day 2017 in Kawama community of Kitwe by donating a borehole and water treatment products to Kawama Race Course Community School in our efforts to promote safe water for healthy life.
Africa is home to a third of the world’s orphan population.UNICEF defines an orphan as a child under the age of 18 who has lost one or both parents, no matter what the cause of death.Globally there are 140 million orphans and 52 million live in Africa.
