Beyond the various steps being taken to reposition for business growth, First Bank Nigeria Limited has also built a robust brand profile through its commitment to corporate social responsibility, reports Raheem Akingbolu
From time to time, promoters of the First Bank Nigeria Limited brand push forward attributes that place the bank ahead of others. Like most enduring brands, First Bank is believed to have scored high not only in routine financial service operations but in its ability to touch lives and empower individuals through its Corporate Social Responsibilities activities. As things are, the bank has gone beyond the rudiment understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept and now focuses on sustainability and empowerment. Recently in Lagos, stakeholders in First Bank concluded the bank’s 2017 CSR Week, organised to empower students and raising national consciousness on values. The one-week long activity turned out to be another opportunity for the First Bank family to demonstrate their belief and resilience about Nigeria and her banking audience. While the week lasted, the message was clear; it was about the new thinking on how the organisation would re-ignite moral values through what was tagged ‘SPARK-Staff Promoting Acts of Random Kindness.’ The initiative is a values-based initiative aimed at entrenching a return to values in Nigerian society which appear to be eroding fast.
Changing the narratives
As leaders of thought at various fora link the social vices among Nigerians, whether in the public or private sector, to erosion of values in the system, the bank used its 2017 CSR Week to tinker with their consciousness. Stakeholders in the bank appeared to have been tired of the development and called for reorientation of the society along the right values of kindness which does not necessary have to be monetary but would go a long way in creating a better society of respect, tolerance and less corruption.
In separate interviews conducted by THISDAY among the staff of the bank, they all admitted that the place of moral values cannot be undermined in any society. To them, the values are not only important to development but the foundations on which a good society would be built. To them, when pillars of moral values are missing, what the society witnesses are corruption, stealing, killings, rape and other social misbehaviours that create chaos. They also wondered why the youth who are suppose to be leaders of tomorrow are also enmeshed in bad behaviours. This is why the message was considered crucial by observers and the persistence call on its acceptability for human and economic managers in the country. In what looked like a demonstration of the ‘lead by example’ dictum, employees of the 120- year old bank ride on the initiative to empower old people and the less privileged.
Spread beyond Nigeria
To give all stakeholders a sense of belonging, the CSR week was said to have been marked in First Bank’s business communities across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria and First Bank subsidiaries across Africa and United Kingdom. The countries where the week was observed include; United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa countries like; Ghana, Guinea, The Gambia, DRC, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
Aside the message passed through the theme, the bank and its staff, have cleverly used the event to show the world the place of their patrons in their day today activities. As the Lagos event went on, not a few customers commended the bank’s Employee Giving & Volunteering Programme.
A customer, who simple introduced himself as Ekom described the week as fulfilling. ‘’I have always known First Bank to be a responsible company. I always feel happy that I’m a customer of the bank because of its commitment to customers. What we have seen this year is a reflection of First Bank’s brand promise to always put its customers first while it reinforces its role in driving sustainable development in the communities where it operates.
Visit to Orphanages /IDPs
In practical demonstration of one of its cardinal principles, touching lives, First Bank management led scores of stakeholders and volunteers to Orphanages and internally displaced persons (IDPs) nationwide. According to some officials of the bank, the objective was to be a part of a global movement for fostering good in its communities on a scale that has never been witnessed before. The decision was said to have been taken to further entrench the bank’s tradition of community support and make a difference in the society. Among other places, the Lagos version of the exercise took the team to Old Peoples’ Home Yaba and Down Syndrome Foundation of Nigeria, Surulere, Lagos.
The employees also embarked on Career Counseling Day, an initiative expected to drive the agenda of the CSR week. In an earlier statement issued to sensitize the public about the week, the bank had indicated that the Career Counseling Day was an opportunity to showcase the bank’s commitment to empowering the youth segment as well as demonstrating that the bank’s CSR programmes were beyond charitable giving.
“The Career Counseling initiative is part of the Bank’s Future First programme which is a unique programme aimed at ensuring the youth of the Nation are financially independent through fulfilling careers and the right financial knowledge. Future First programme is structured to equip students with the tools and knowledge to make effective and informed financial management decisions towards a long-term financial independence,†the statement had stated.
The key objectives of the Career Counseling , the bank said were to help students better understand how businesses are organised and operated; to help students develop critical thinking, speaking, and leadership skills and be able to demonstrate the rewards of the free enterprise system and to guide students to make the right career choices. The career day had been held in some schools already. The bank listed the schools to include: Girls Senior Academy, Lagos Island and Methodist Girls, Harbour Road, Port Harcourt. Others are; Government science technical college Garki; Abuja and Ibadan Grammar School, Ibadan.
According to the bank’s Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, the CSR 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 ofâ€, she enthused.
“First Bank has contributed to all aspects of nation building since 1894 when it was established. We believe there’s currently a deficit in our moral values and given the Bank’s historical role in developing the nation, it should be at the forefront in reigniting the moral values. It’s important to raise people that choose to do the right thing,†she said.
“This act of promoting kindness was the reason FBN held its maiden Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability week with the theme “Promoting Acts of Kindness,†which according to Ismail Omamegbe, Head, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability First Bank, is targeted at reawakening the bank’s value system as a people,†she added.
It is expected that with a career talk like this, students would be able to follow their career path because often time students just follow their mates into different departments but by being exposed to things like this they are able to know their area of strength and what their weaknesses are. So, FBN action was considered to be a laudable act capable of creating reasonable impact in the entire school and the students, which will then help them focus their attention and make it in life.
Imports of the CSR week
From any area one chooses to look at the activities that were lined up to commemorate the week, it was another clear indication that First Bank has consistently led others despite economic recession. This is indicative of the fact that the brand is responsive and responsible.
Like all breakaway brands, First Bank Nigeria has consistently formed an emotional connection with its audience. The brand owners understand the role that brand plays in the lives of consumers and makes sure First Bank’s attributes match up with the target banking public. Perhaps that is the reason, the bank has, for over 100 years, been thinking of new ways to give the brand a top-of-mind awareness.
Recently, the bank was, again, named as the most valuable banking brand in Nigeria in The Top 500 Banking Brands of The Banker magazine of the Financial Times and Brand Finance, London, United Kingdom for the sixth consecutive time. In many quarters, observers saw the feat as an evidence of the global status of the brand. Stakeholders in the finance sector concluded this way because it happened in a country, where mortality rate of businesses is high; First Bank has existed for over 10 decades. With the CSR week, the bank has simply sent a signal that it has not allowed complacency to set in.
