Africa’s largest retail bank, Access Bank PLC has been awarded the ‘Best Brand in Sustainability’ and ‘SME Friendly Bank of the Year’ at the 2020 Brandcom Awards.
The organisers of Brandcom Awards, Brand Communicator, recognised Access Bank PLC for its Sustainability leadership and support to several small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), individuals and corporates. To crown a pleasant evening for the Bank, its Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe was named the ‘CEO of the Year (Financial Services)’.
Speaking on the Awards, Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, Head of Sustainability at Access Bank PLC said, “Access Bank is committed to the promotion of inclusive and sustainable growth, and development across all sectors of the economy. This is why we have given ourselves the mandate as financiers to invest in sustainable projects while also providing innovative solutions which support global efforts as highlighted in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“At Access Bank, we recognize the importance of SMEs to the development of the national economy and more extensively, the success of the global sustainability agenda. We are privileged to receive recognitions like this, and we will continue to play our part in improving lives” she concluded.
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Through its Employee Volunteering Scheme – an initiative that empowers members of staff to give back to their communities – Access Bank has delivered several benefits, with more than 15,000 students, 1,000 vulnerable children and 4,000 hospital patients positively impacted. Access Bank has also collaborated with stakeholders and built models under its waste to wealth initiative as well as partnered with Smefunds to provide local entrepreneurs with alternative cooking technology powered by biofuels. This partnership with SMEFunds sought to address the health concerns faced using unhealthy cooking technologies; end poverty by promoting sustainable enterprise development as well as help nature to recover itself by curbing the felling and selling of trees in rural communities.
According to the Convener of Brandcom Awards and Publisher of Brand Communicator, Joshua Ajayi, Wigwe’s recognition was based on his admirable leadership which has seen Access Bank make innovative exploits in providing effective, sustainable market solutions and for placing the Nigerian banking industry on the global map.
Access Bank has upheld a culture of holistically integrating sustainability into its business operations. Access Bank recently became the first-ever African commercial bank to be granted Sustainability Certification under the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI).
Meanwhile, in response to the rising cases of gender-based violence in Nigeria and across the world, Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative in partnership with the Nigerian Governors Wives against GenderBased Violence (NGWA-GBV), recently organised a virtual webinar themed ‘Tackling the menace of gender-based violence in our society’.
The webinar featured notable guest speakers such as; Erelu Bisi Fayemi, the First Lady of Ekiti State; Olufolake Abdulrazaq, the First Lady of Kwara State; Bola Tinubu, the Founder, Cece Yara Foundation and Kemi Dasilva-Ibru, the Founder, Women at Risk Foundation(Warif).
Despite the increased awareness and violence prevention programs in low-resource settings, social norms and beliefs still pose a major challenge to ending gender-based violence in the society. In line with the vision of the ‘W’ Initiative to create a society where sexual and gender-based violence is eradicated, the conversation focused on the meaning and types of gender-based violence, contributing factors as well as how to respond, cope and ultimately put an end to the scourge.
