Access Bank was adjudged the ‘Best Company in Women Empowerment’. The Bank also won the ‘Best Company in Financial Literacy & Inclusion’ category at the same time at the 2020 Sustainability and Social Investment Awards (SSI) ceremony held in Accra last Friday 13th November
The awards are in recognition of the bank’s continuous efforts at creating opportunities for women to improve their businesses through initiatives that generally broaden access to finance, such as the ‘Live B3ta’ project.
Commenting on the awards, the Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, Mr. Olumide Olatunji, noted that the bank has over the years committed itself to sustainable business to build an economically empowered citizenry that can support economic development of the country.
He added: “As a truly African bank, we appreciate the rapidly evolving and increasingly complex business environment in which we operate. To take the lead and be able to anticipate and solve problems of our customers and stakeholders, we have embraced a culture of innovation that enables us to channel resources toward developing promising ideas which translate into profit and sustainable business growth”.
In acknowledgement of the awards, Group Head of Retail Banking Matilda Asante-Asiedu noted that: “These awards are an indication that the bank’s quest to reach the unbanked and underserved segments of the market is on the right trajectory, and its impact is being seen and finally recognised”.
‘Live B3ta’ – a savings account targetted at women groups with limited access to financial services – is under the bank’s flagship women empowerment programme ‘W’ Initiative and forms part of the MasterCard Foundation and Oxford Policy Management (OPM) ‘Savings at the Frontier’ (SatF) initiative, which is aimed at improving the financial inclusion of low-income individuals and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2010, Access Bank has received several local and international awards in recognition of its role in championing sustainability and promoting corporate social responsibility. The bank’s enviable CSR awards include: 2018 Best Company in Employee Volunteering Initiative (SSI Awards); Winner of the 2019 Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards – Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement; Special Recognition award in Sustainability Banking in Africa; and the Brandcom Award for Best Brand in Sustainability among others. Last year, the bank received the ‘Health Project of the Year’ award for its life-changing ‘Fist Against Fistula’ initiative and recently was awarded “Bank of the Year” at the 2020 Women’s Choice Awards Africa.
The Sustainability & Social Investment Awards identify and publicly recognise the impact made by organisations and individuals through exemplary success in voluntarily improving the quality of life of people and communities. This year’s edition celebrates business excellence and innovation in corporate social responsibility.
