By Elizabeth Chukwuma
United Bank for Africa, UBA plc, a pan African Bank, appears to have demonstrated class, among its competitors, as it has emerged as the best Financial Institution in support of Education for the CSR 2019.
This is in addition to Bola Atta, the Chief Executive Officer, of the Bank Foundation and Group Head, Corporate Communications, also received the award as the top Corporate Affairs Professional at the 7th annual Bank Brands and Marketing Conference c held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Exhibition centre, Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve centre, last Friday.
The UBA awards appears to have become the talk of the day in the nation’s Banking Industry. This is because wherever two or three Corporate officials from the Banks gather, the UBA, awards, became the topic of discussion. Some of them were said to have been asking themselves questions: where did we it wrong to have allowed UBA clinch the award. The most worried were Zenith and Access Banks, which have experienced professionals , Heading their Corporate Communications Units and who were said to have been making waves in the nation’s Banking sector over the years.
Business analyst believe that they may have been making waves in their respective Banks over the years but may not have been as creative as their counterparts in UBA, who were said to have been coming out with different products which had repositioned the Bank, thus making it the Customers delight. That much was cited by the organisers of the event in giving the awards to Atta, the Bank’s Group Head, Corporate Communications.
Eye witness account said Atta, the UBA, top Communications Staff beat other Banks nominees to win the top prize as a result of her impressive contributions to steer the Bank’s Corporate Communications with various laudable initiatives that have further repositioned the Bank and increased its market share and mobilisation of funds as well as increased its brand presence among its Competitors.
Bank analysts believe that the sucessful organisation of the UBA Market Place which took place last July in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, and which was widely covered local and foreign media and the birth of the REDTV, the fast-paced digital lifestyle channel were cited as some of her achievements that had repositioned the Bank which was said to have won the prestigious award, that had seen Heads of other Banks Corporate Communications going back to the drawing board.
Industry analysts called the UBA, CSR award for 2019, over its support to Education as another award for Atta, who Heads the UBA Foundation. The Foundation, alone champions the Education programme . This is evident going by the National Essay Competition for students in tertiary Institutions where winners had received various grants from the Foundation over the last nine years across the African Continent.
It was not surprising why people have called the UBA Foundation as Education Foundation, for improving less privileged people’s access to education. An elated Atta had thanked the BJAN for the awards, promising to do more to help students in their education pursuit.
The UBA Foundation, Chief Executive Officer, who could not hide her feelings described the National Essay being organised by the Foundation as a thing of joy seeing winners of the Competition each year go home with various grants to support their University education in different parts of Africa.
She believes that the education the winners have acquired would go a long way to change their lives and that of their families including contributing meaningfully to the development of their society.
Note that since 2012, the Brand Journalist Association Conference awards have been celebrating outstanding Companies, which include UBA plc, which through their immense contributions and had become the game changers driving the wheels of growth of Brand products and by extension the development of the African continent.
An appreciative Princewill Ekwujuru, BJAN president, was said to have commended the UBA Foundation, particular, for its strong footprint across Africa. Ewujuru, noted that that through the Foundation Real Africa Initiative, and the scholarship given to winners of its National Essay Competition for Tertiary Institutions, ‘’it has done well to transform the lives of many’’.
He disclosed that the awards were borne out of the need to recognise the game changers whose relentless efforts have helped to give hope to Africa and at the same time, drive sustainable development amid strife.
‘’These companies understand that agility, innovation, fluidity, decisiveness and commitment accelerate the pace of change, Africa craves for”, he had declared.
