Wema Bank has disclosed that no fewer than 500,000 Nigerians have secured about N109 billion funding from its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and Corporate Social Investment initiatives in the country.
In a statement, the bank said it had granted over N58.9 billion uncollaterised loans to women MSMEs through its SARA initiative as well as invested about N50 billion on its Sustainable Finance scheme, among others. ‘‘As far back as 2018, the bank expanded its socio-economic focus beyond the limited scope of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and adopted the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) policy as the strategy for achieving the sustainability vision of providing solutions for societal impact,’’ the bank said.
Speaking on this development, the managing director/CEO of Wema Bank, Mr. Moruf Oseni, said, all its social impact initiatives cut across five core Corporate Social Investment pillars namely; Economic Empowerment, Education, Environment, Finance & Health, adding that, over 500,000 beneficiaries across the nation have been impacted so far.
In pursuit of the drive to build climate resilience through the financing of adaptation measures, he said the bank launched a Green Energy Finance Facility to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and individuals reduce their emissions through power generation, disclosing that the facility provides opportunities for SMEs to access up to N10 million for renewable energy solutions in their business operations and processes.
On Sustainable Finance, he said, Wema Bank is committed to the systematic reduction of financed emissions through reduced lending to high climate risk sectors and promoting investment in more sustainable segments of the economy such as renewable energy, waste management, gender finance, smart agriculture amongst others.
“About N50 billion has been invested in sustainable businesses so far with enhanced incentives for the adoption of sustainable business.
practices promoted through outlets such as the Vendors Environmental & Social Forum, SME Business School, webinars and bankwide sustainability training courses amongst others,” he pointed out.
Similarly, he said, the bank’s proposition for women was established to provide gender-targeted solutions across the workplace, community and marketplace segments.
In response to the AfDB report of a $42billion gender financing gap and the World Economic Forum estimate of 136 years to bridge the gender equality gap, he said, SARA by Wema has led diverse empowerment initiatives to promote gender finance.