First Bank of Nigeria, the nation’s premier financial institution, on Friday said that the third edition of its Corporate Responsibility &Sustainability (CR&S) would kick off on July 1 to July 6.
The bank said that the week-long activities would take place in the six geo-political zones and the bank’s business locations in Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, DR Congo and the United Kingdom.
The 2019 edition is themed :“Ripples of Kindness, Putting You First’’.
The CR&S Week is driven to amplify the bank’s culture of “Employee Giving & Volunteering Programme’’ with a focus on reinforcing the values of the bank’s SPARK (Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness) initiative through a wide range of strategically designed activities. SPARK is a values-based initiative designed to raise consciousness that promotes kindness to one another.
Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney, the bank’s Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, said that the 2019 CR&S week was aimed at reinforcing FirstBank’s corporate culture of encouraging giving and volunteering among its employees and the larger society.
“We believe that every act of kindness goes a long way in leaving an indelible impact in the lives of people which indeed underscores why it is important for everyone to Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness. No matter how little, every act of kindness indeed makes the world a better place,’’ Ani-Mumuney said.
She added that amongst the activities to be carried out in the course of the week was the Nice Comments Day, a day set aside to foster words of encouragement, support and kindness to people around you, regardless of ones’ familiarity or close ties.
According to her, the bank recognises that kind words are largely instrumental to lighting up one’s day and also bringing out the best in one. She added that other activities in the course of the FirstBank CR&S week were visits to the less privileged homes, as well as the promotion of the SPARK initiative in schools.
Ani-Mumuney said that the objective of the SPARK initiative in schools was to embed the values of SPARK amongst school children at a young age, so it becomes part and parcel of them, forming a habit and nature as they develop into adulthood.
She highlighted the values of the SPARK initiative as compassion, civility, charity and connection. Ani-Mumuney further noted that the bank believed that every act of kindness was critical to promoting a peaceful co-existence amongst everyone in the society and building a prosperous society and the nation at large.