Yemisi Izuora
First Bank of Nigeria Limited has begun the celebration of its Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) initiatives from September 25 – 29, 2017.
The historical FirstBank CR&S week themed ‘Promoting Kindness; Putting You First’ would witness the culmination and consolidation of the Bank’s interventions in social responsibility, promoting random acts of kinds across communities in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria and FirstBank subsidiaries in United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. The programme is a reflection of FirstBank’s brand promise to always put its customers first while it reinforces the Bank’s role in driving sustainable development in the communities where it operates.
The CR&S week is specially designed to reignite acts of kindness in our society and the events are tailored towards re-orientating the society along the right values; encouraging the citizenry to intentionally create positive impact in their immediate environment. One of the major highlights of the week has been dubbed the SPARK initiative – Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness. The week-long activities will see FirstBank’s employees give their time and resources to promote random acts of kindness within their communities, driving welfare through giving and visits to orphanage/less privileged homes and IDPs. The Bank would also hold career counseling sessions with secondary school students across the regions which would have staff coordinate impactful sessions that will inculcate financial literacy and inclusion in young students.
FirstBank’s CR&S Week is the first of its kind in the Financial Service industry in Nigeria and it would spotlight the Bank’s corporate citizenship interventions to drive positive impact across various communities all in one week. The Bank is encouraging people everywhere to step out of their comfort zones, perform a random act of kindness, post a picture and tag FirstBank on social media using the hash tag #FirstBankCRSWeek on Facebook – facebook.com/firstbankofnigeri
According to the Bank’s Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, the CRS week was mooted to stimulate a better society with random acts of kindness. “As an institution, we want to encourage the values of random kindness and we implore Nigerians and indeed everyone to go the extra mile to promote and celebrate kindness this week. Kindness does not have to be monetary but would always leave us with a better society we can all be proud of”, she enthused.