The Board, Management and Staff of SCB Nigeria held a fundraising ball tagged ‘The Eye Ball’ in support of their Group’s Seeing is Believing initiative. The Seeing is Believing project, is Standard Chartered Bank’s initiative to help tackle avoidable blindness in communities around the world, 90 percent of which is found in the developing world where the Bank’s business is rooted.
In most cases, vision can be improved with eyeglasses or contact lenses. However, 80 percent of blindness is avoidable i.e. preventable and/or treatable. Seeing is Believing is Standard Chartered Bank’s initiative to help tackle avoidable blindness in communities around the world.
Started by Standard Chartered staff in 2003 as a way of celebrating the Bank’s 150th anniversary, Seeing is Believing has raised over $37 million and impacted over 25 million people to date globally, including over 2.5 million who have benefited from sight restorations. The programme’s latest commitment will invest a further $20 million by the end of 2014 to provide comprehensive and sustainable eye care services to 20 million people in impoverished urban areas.
In support of the SIB initiative, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited has held an annual fundraising walk for the last seven years, raising over $740,000 which has helped to fund successful cataract operations for more than 14,000 persons.
This year, with the support of clients, customers, friends and well wishers, the bank raised over $80,000 towards the gradual eradication of the scourge of blindness in Nigeria. The average cost of a cataract operation is $30. With the funds raise over 2,500 individuals will be benefit from eye care treatment and therapy this year.
