Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Win 2021 SERAS CSR Africa Awards

<p><em>Zenith Bank<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Zenith Bank Plc emerged winner at Sustainability&comma; Enterprise and Responsibility &lpar;SERAS&rpar; CSR Africa Awards held at the weekend in Lagos&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The bank won in four other categories at the SERAS CSR <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;thisdaylive&period;com&sol;">Africa<&sol;a> Awards&comma; carting home the awards for&&num;8221&semi;Best Company in Reporting and Transparency”&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Best Company in Infrastructure Development&&num;8221&semi;&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Best Company in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment&&num;8221&semi;&comma; and the coveted &&num;8220&semi;Most Responsible Organisation in Africa&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Zenith Bank was adjudged the Most Responsible Organisation in Africa&comma; winning the overall best sustainability award&comma; for its continued commitment to the tenets of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility&comma; within its immediate community and in the society at large&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Bank also emerged as the winner in the category for Reporting and Transparency for its consistency in disclosing and communicating its sustainability journey and progress annually vis-a-vis environmental&comma; social&comma; and governance &lpar;ESG&rpar; goals&comma; in line with the guidelines and protocols set by the Global Reporting Initiative &lpar;GRI&rpar;&comma; Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles &lpar;NSBP&rpar;&comma; NigerianExchange &lpar;NGX&rpar;&comma; United Nations Global Compact &lpar;UNGC&rpar;&comma; and United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative &lpar;UNEP FI&rpar;&period; The Bank also ensures the assurance of its sustainability report by reputable independent third parties&period; In 2021&comma; the Bank&&num;8217&semi;s 2020 sustainability report was assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers &lpar;PwC&rpar; and disseminated through the Bank&&num;8217&semi;s website for the public and sent to all relevant stakeholders&comma; including the United Nations Global Compact &lpar;UNGC&rpar;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In the infrastructure development category&comma; the Bank was voted winner for its nation-building initiatives and investments&comma; including supporting efforts towards establishing basic services andfunctional security&comma; governance&comma; and economic and infrastructure systems&comma; especially in Nigeria&period;As a testament to this and in demonstration of its commitment to the development &lpar;often referred to as reform&comma; restructuring and rebuilding&rpar; of the Nigeria Police Force for the preservation of law and order&comma; protection of life and property&comma; and law enforcement in Nigeria&comma; the Bank supported the Lagos State Security Trust Fund with N500&comma;000&comma;000&period;00 for the provision of security-enhancing facilities and infrastructure&period; This is in addition to contributions to other state security trust funds&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Zenith Bank was adjudged winner in the category for the Best Company in Promotion of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment for its Z-Woman initiative&comma; which offers credit facilities to women-owned businesses at a single-digit interest rate and for a gender-balanced workforce &lpar;Women make up about 50&percnt; of employees&rpar;&period; During the reporting period&comma; the number of women and women enterprises supported by the Bank&comma; through the Z-Woman initiative&comma; grew by 88&period;7&percnt;&comma; from 391 in 2019 to 738 in 2020&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Group Managing Director&sol;CEO&comma; Mr&period; Ebenezer Onyeagwu&comma; also emerged CEO of the Year for a second consecutive year at the&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to the judges&comma; he was selected for a number of reasons&comma; including engendering a culture that promotes the continued investment in social initiatives in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals &lpar;SDGs&rpar;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Under his leadership&comma; the Zenith Bank&&num;8217&semi;s social investments totalled NGN3&period;285 billion in 2020&comma; representing nearly 2&percnt; of the Bank&&num;8217&semi;s profit after tax&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The judges found him worthy for his commitment to promoting sustainability and responsible business practices in Nigeria&comma; by his frontal leadership of sustainability in Zenith Bank&comma; thereby enabling best industry practices in the banking sector&comma; and for his passion for reducing carbon emissions in the Bank&&num;8217&semi;s operations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Sustainability&comma; Enterprise and Responsibility Awards &lpar;SERAS&rpar; is an initiative of TruCSR which celebrates and promotes investments by corporate organisations in the society through CSR and sustainability initiatives&period; It made its debut in 2007&comma; and participation was opened to other countries of Africa in 2016&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 2021 awards featured 387 projects by 97 organisations across Africa&period; The SERAS Jury Board consists of global thought and best-practices leaders from around the world such as Maria Sillanpaa &lpar;Finland&rpar;&semi; Nyasha Gwatidzo &lpar;Zimbabwe&rpar;&semi; Adesuwa Onyenokwe &lpar;Nigeria&rpar;&semi; Amjed Achour &lpar;Morocco&rpar;&semi; Charles Ojei &lpar;Nigeria&rpar;&semi; Ellen Gunning &lpar;Ireland&rpar;&semi; Gina Din-Kariuki &lpar;Kenya&rpar;&semi; Indira Kartallozi &lpar;England&rpar;&semi; Lampe Omoyele &lpar;Nigeria&rpar;&semi; Paul Kapelus &lpar;South Africa&rpar;&semi; and Scott Walker &lpar;England&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;