Employees of Wema Bank Plc, the leading Innovative bank in Nigeria, have raised the bar in corporate social investment by building a pool of funds for underprivileged women empowerment to expand their scope of business under the auspices of project Ferry.
Through the salary for love initiative, employees of the bank in the Lagos region led by the project champions selected 47 underprivileged women at Ferry Community in Oworoshoki, Lagos for the provision of seed funds.
Speaking at the empowerment/financial literacy ceremony where debit cards loaded with cash were presented to the beneficiaries, the regional manager Lagos Mainland Aramide Awosanya, said the bank was interested in helping them to grow their businesses and succeed.
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Speaking further, she advised the beneficiaries to separate the seed fund grants from the money for social activities, reminding them that it is for business expansion.
“The funds contributed by our employees from their salaries are not for buying clothes, shoes or for organizing parties. Rather, the money is to assist you to grow your businesses, make more profit and become very successful. So, don’t spend it frivolously. When we see you again some months from now, we want to see changes, we want to see progress, and we want to see signs of prosperity”, she said.
Also speaking at the event, the head, retail segment of the bank, Mudashiru Hakeem, described the bank and its employees as good corporate citizens who take delight in the wellbeing and success of the people in their host communities. She advised them to keep good accounts of their daily transactions, warning against spending both capital and profit.
Hakeem who gave them many business and investment tips also advised them to engage in businesses that they understand very well but not to go into any business because many people are going into it. He also enlightened them on other products of the bank which he recommended to them for patronage.
Salary for love is a corporate social responsibility of the employees of Wema Bank aimed at lending a helping hand to the poor and underprivileged people in the society and women traders who operate under the constraint of capital to scale up their petty trades.
