The economy and communities have been managed by disruptions
imposed by COVID-19.
Yet financial services have shown uncommon responsiveness
and compassion towards customers and communities.’ Indeed, this has been an
unusual year, no thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but it has been a year
defined as much by COVID-19 and its associated disruptions and difficulties as
by the unprecedented response in kindness by corporate Nigeria.
BusinessDay’s BAFI Awards recognised achievements in a
number of separate categories, each of which was worth its weight in gold.
However, it could be argued that in this year of COVID-19, any recognition that
took into account and was informed by the awardee’s COVID-related activities
was probably the most significant of the awards/categories.
It is against this backdrop that the recipient of the CSR
Bank of the Year award at the BAFI Awards should be celebrated and projected as
a model other corporate should emulate.
And it came as no surprise that the bank that considers its destiny
to be intertwined with Nigeria’s and whose commitment to nation building
largely informs its approach to corporate responsibility and sustainability
(CR&S), was so crowned as CSR Bank of the Year at the BAFI Awards.
The award was a well-deserved recognition for the exemplary
role played by First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, Nigeria’s leading financial services
provider, in support of the government and individuals’ as well as its own
efforts to deal with the impact of COVID-19.
Before the BAFI Awards, and, undoubtedly, proof that the
award was not a fluke, CSR Reporters had named FirstBank as the 2020
Philanthropic Financial Institution of the Year in recognition of the bank’s
social responsibility in the areas of e-learning and empowerment of SMEs in Nigeria.
These CSR awards took cognisance of FirstBank’s unparalleled
contributions to CSR, particularly through its e-learning initiative delivered
in collaboration with partners from within and outside the continent, such as
IBM, UNESCO and Robert & John, and the Lagos State Government.
Whilst different organisations rose to the various
challenges resulting from COVID-19 crisis and were supporting in areas such as
health and welfare, FirstBank chose and developed the e-learning initiative.
FirstBank felt strongly that the peculiar needs of children and the youth
risked being neglected at a time of unprecedented crises – with schools being
closed, parents losing jobs, businesses shutting down, government revenues
shrinking, health care resources being over-stretched, economic conditions
worsening, etc.
The bank therefore kicked off an initiative to move one
million students to e-learning, alongside its partners, to minimise the
disruption to the their education resulting from the prolonged closure of
schools across Nigeria and ensure that they remain fully engaged during the
difficult period, so they can continue to learn and compete favourably with
their peers across the world. Over 140,000 students have benefitted from the
e-learning initiative.
Focusing on key elements that resonated with its brand, such
as dynamism, innovation and nation building, FirstBank’s e-learning initiative
is an innovative and dynamic approach to learning which is not only a suitable
and resourceful solution at this time, but also one that is intertwined with
perhaps the next century’s likely digital approach to learning, especially with
the addition of courses such as coding and robotics, which can usher students
into the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and prepare them for jobs of
the future.
The e-learning initiative also aligns with the bank’s key
focus area in its CSR framework – education. Education remains the single
largest beneficiary of FirstBank’s enormous investments in CSR. Currently, 10
universities and three secondary schools enjoy FirstBank’s infrastructure
projects; 10 universities are endowed with professorial chairs by the bank; and
over 80,000 students in over 80 secondary schools in Nigeria have benefitted
from financial literacy, and entrepreneurial and career counselling provided
through FirstBank-sponsored programmes. Education consistently attracts the
bank’s keenest attention from year to year.
This is because FirstBank believes that education – quality
and relevant education – remains the bedrock of any society and that when
children are properly educated, the nation is enabled and global citizens who
provide groundbreaking solutions for the continent and the world at large, are
produced.
FirstBank’s partnership with IBM on the e-learning
initiative, is making available to students the Digital-Nation Africa program,
an online youth-focused learning programme that enables innovation and skills
development on emerging technologies
The IBM Digital- Nation Africa aims to provide African youth
with effective digital literacy. The Platform seeks to enable African citizens,
entrepreneurs and communities with the knowledge, tools and skills to innovate,
design, develop and launch their own digital skills. It also helps African
citizens enhance their digital skills to best meet the needs of the job
market.#
The partnership with Curious Learning is designed to reach
smartphone users using available curated and tested literacy and numeracy apps
– with free access provided to these apps. Curious learning is delivering
academic-based content for students aged three to eight through a number of
mobile applications designed to empower these young children in a fun,
self-guided learning process through exploration and curiosity to help them
with their cognitive skills at a fundamental level. Examples of these apps are
Feed the Monster and Read with Akili. Efforts are in place through Curious
Learning to ensure the e-learning initiative swiftly moves across the country to
school children and individuals with the need to promote the pursuit of
knowledge, irrespective of age. This is critical in identifying with the roles
of children at securing the future of any country.
Another partnership in FirstBank’s e-learning initiative is
the one with Lagos State Government and Robert & John, an Edu-tech company
that owns Roducate.
The Roducate e-learning platform, structured in line with
the government’s accredited curriculum for primary, secondary and tertiary
schools across various fields of academic endeavours, such as science,
commercial and arts, includes tutorial videos to reinforce the learning
engagement, as well as assignments and mock exams to test students’ knowledge
and progress in the course of studying. Learning on the platform also enables
note taking for quick reference, and to foster extra-curricular activities,
provides exciting features to make learning exciting and fun, such as podcasts
and various games like brain pulse, monster munch etc. which allows students to
play with one another online, thereby building relationships and promoting
interactive learning.
So far FirstBank has provided 20,000 low-end devices
preloaded with Roducate offline (presented to Lagos State Government for
distribution to students) and enabled over 120,000 free sign-ups, on the
Roducate e-learning platform, with the ultimate goal being to empower at least
one million students.
‘This [e-learning] solution,’ according to Dr Adesola
Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, ‘will see Lagos State offer
children in the lower bracket, who may not have access to devices or data from
home, affordable smart phones preloaded with the curriculum. The phones have
SIMs and limited data tied, only, to the Roducate learning product, which means
the recipients cannot browse, encouraging safe learning, but they can still
submit tests, mock exams, etc.’
Dr Adeduntan, who encouraged parents and guardians to have
their children and wards registered so their educational development is not
held back, noted that the initiative is ‘in keeping with who we are at
FirstBank, [where] our commitment to self-development and continuous
improvement is never far from our thinking.’ In addition, FirstBank is a member
of the Global Education Coalition led by UNESCO which is a platform for
collaboration and exchange to protect the right of education during this
unprecedented disruption and beyond.
Furthermore, in a bid to support SMEs operating in the
education sector, FirstBank created a matching fund scheme of ₦5 billion
LSETF-FirstEdu Loan, in partnership with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund
(LSETF). The scheme is designed to cushion the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on low-cost
private schools by providing loans to them at an attractive interest rate. At
the launch of the scheme, the Managing Director/CEO of FirstBank, Dr Adesola
Adeduntan said: ‘At FirstBank we recognise the indelible role played by the
education sector in the growth of any economy and this underscores our
partnership with Lagos State Government for continuous development of the
education services in Lagos State and the nation as a whole.
The commitment by the Lagos State Government – including
this partnership – to enable schools is quite commendable as this will mitigate
the challenges caused by the lockdown on the education sector following the
COVID-19 pandemic.’
Woven into the fabric of society for over 126 years,
overcoming challenges and remaining a dominant player in Nigeria’s financial
services landscape, FirstBank has been partnering and supporting various
sustainable activities towards the continued growth of its host communities and
the nation at large.
As a responsible corporate organisation committed to
supporting all its stakeholders in the most sustainable manner possible, the
bank has partnered various state governments through the private sector-led Coalition
Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) intervention with a view to promoting the readiness
and efficiency of health care professionals and other compatriots at the
forefront of fighting the pandemic. Beyond Nigeria, FirstBank’s sub-Saharan
African subsidiaries have also been involved.
So far they have made donations amounting to US$173,000 in
cash and kind towards alleviating the impact of COVID-19 on the continent.
According to BusinessDay, the BAFI Awards, convened annually
to recognise and celebrate organisations that have achieved excellence in the
delivery of their financial services across the entire client and customer
spectrum, is adjudged the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards
programme in the industry. Since its inception in 2014, when the first edition
held, its organisers, BusinessDay has implemented an audit-based approach in
the evaluation process, meticulously reviewing each shortlisted company’s
financial reports, commissioned customer perception surveys and analyst
opinion, then comparing these with its competition in a longitudinal study.
The BAFI Awards have become established as the benchmark of
distinction for institutions in the financial services sector. Its rising
popularity among leaders in the banking, investing, insurance, and asset
management subsectors have earned the BAFI Awards a reputation as ‘the only
recognition you deserve’.
The BAFI Awards is backed by the BusinessDay Research and
Intelligence Unit (BRIU). Nominations for the BAFI Awards are the culmination
of a rigorous review process. The BRIU and an independent panel of judges
evaluate more than two hundred and fifty institutions and benchmark them
against their global peers using several indices in a thorough evaluation
process. Nominees are assessed for their vision, execution and market leading
propositions.
The BAFI award categories cut across banking, insurance,
capital markets, investment, pension funds, trustees, registrars, stockbroking
and private equity. This year’s event where FirstBank won Best CSR Bank of the
Year (and a second award – Best Mobile Banking App), was themed: Interpreting
an Irrational Year: Coping, Adjusting and Thriving in a Wicked Learning Environment.