Wema Bank embarks on several social projects during the business year and we are committed to improving communities in which we operate. Our initiatives are instituted on four pillars; health, education, finance and environment, in achieving the wellbeing of our stakeholders.
Our iVolunteer initiative creates opportunities for employees to share their skills, talent, time and resources through volunteering. According to the saying ‘’knowledge is power’’, we recognize the need to share this knowledge to prospective and existing customers as we can only be as prosperous as their financial well-being. iVolunteer outreaches are organized all over the country to educate them on financial literacy topics and capacity building sessions for several MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises) in form of MSME Clinics.
We were able to reach over 600 small businesses in Aba, Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Uyo. Businesses are being supported with concessionary funds to achieve sustainable wealth while achieving our financial inclusion goal in the remote areas.
The Bank organizes the Declutter and Donate campaign every year. The objective of the project is to encourage members of staff to declutter their homes and donate useful items such as clothes, toys, food items, electrical appliances, toiletries etc. to disadvantaged individuals and communities. We also refurbish obsolete computer systems and donate to schools across our regions. These items, in the past, have been donated to flood-ravaged, neglected and internally displaced people in communities. So far, we have been able to reach over 20,000 lives with this initiative. Click here to watch the video from our latest outreach.
The Salary for Love initiative is an annual project in which members of staff donate their one-day basic salary in February to give back to the underprivileged in the society in which we do business. Each year, this initiative is targeted towards a selected goal of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is our own way of sharing love in society to celebrate the popular month of love. Over 70,000 lives have been impacted by this initiative.
The Bank has developed a mentorship programme where members of staff contribute their quota to the society by mentoring children, young adults etc, in schools and engage in positive community activities. We have had series of programmes over time and intend to significantly increase our reach. Members of staff across our regions select topics based on their expertise such as cybersecurity, vision board creation, role modelling, sustainable practices, financial literacy, personal hygiene etc.
In line with our sustainability goal of developing digital solutions for societal impact, we organized Hackaholics, a radical gathering of developers, web designers and creative thinkers to develop solutions around key verticals of finance, education, gender empowerment, agriculture, data analytics and automation.
Team Eazy Change emerged the winner with a prize of $10,000. The team developed a solution that will resolve payment issues for commuters. The Bank proceeded to create an incubation lab for the top four (4) start-ups to nurture their ideas for greater impact. We believe these will provide groundbreaking opportunities for more sustainable businesses and create employment for about 5,000 Nigerians with significant impact on 60,000 households.
The bank also collaborated with the management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State to create opportunities for students to develop business ideas that will make them financially independent and empower them at an early age. The teams developed solutions to solve common problems within the school community.