Keystone Bank held the reins of the Women Empowerment segment of the recently concluded International OkpeKpe Road Race. The Okpekpe Road Race - an annual 10 kilometre marathon organised by Pamodzi Sports marketing Nigeria Ltd in partnership with the Edo State Government – is recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and attracts competitors from all over Africa. The Acting Managing Director of Keystone Bank, Mr Hafiz Bakare stated that Keystone Bank is committed to supporting initiatives that empower women and youths explaining that this is in line with the pillars of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). He added that women are the bedrock of social and moral values and as such support for programmes like this is not only significant but essential. As part of the Women Empowerment Programme sponsored by Keystone Bank, 10 indigenous women were trained and provided with start-up kits in various vocational skills. Speaking at the event, the Group Head, Oil & Gas (Corporate Banking) at Keystone Bank, Mrs Nnenna Kayode-Lawal said, “Beyond being one of our CSR pillars, the focus on supporting women in the society stems from the fact that women remain the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. According to a study by the Clinton Foundation, 41% of Nigerian women are entrepreneurs compared to only approximately 10% in the US and 5.7% in the UK. While according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring’s annual report, women actually outnumber men in the entrepreneur space in countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia. Many of these women include small scale operators in the rural areas who; if provided with the right kind of support, can have significant effects on the economy. ” Backed with this report, Keystone Bank is charged to explore all strategies to make significant impact in this terrain.
Top players in the nation’s golf course teed it off in Kaduna on June 3 & 4, 2006 courtesy of Keystone Bank. The golf championship started in 1921 as Kaduna Golf Club. Since then, it has evolved from 6 - 9 holes to the present 18 holes, which is the international standard. The Kaduna Golf tournament is open to all amateur golfers from Nigeria and other countries of the world. The former Habib Nigeria Bank Plc started sponsoring of Kaduna Golf Club tournaments in 1989 and sustained the sponsorship until the bank merged its operations with Platinum Bank Plc. Keystone Bank that emerged from the merger is now set to take the Golf championship to new heights.
Nigerians joined billions of people around the world to capture the passion, excitement, joy and even sadness that goes with the World Cup as Keystone Bank sponsored the broadcast of the 64 games which took place from June 9 to July 9, 2006. Keystone Bank one of the three major sponsors and the only Bank, ensured that Nigerians did not miss out of the World Cup actions. Though Nigeria was not part of the 2006 world cup, Nigerians stayed glued to their television sets through out the duration of the competition due to their love for the round leather game. We sponsored the live broadcasts of matches from the world cup because we share the passion that the game evokes in viewers. We value our customers and we serve them with passion, so we understand the football fan and the passion he or she feels when watching football, they love the game passionately just the same way we love and serve our customers passionately. For us banking is all about serving our Customers with passion.
The Think Road Safety, Save Lives Health and Eye screening project was launched in Abuja on November 21 2013. This initiative recognizes and supports the vibrant transport system in order to improve safety on Nigerian roads and ultimately save lives. Major partners of this project include The Eye Foundation Hospital, Public Health Partner and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). The project ambassador for this CSR initiative is the well-liked comedian, Saka. The Bank identified that interstate drivers account for majority of the mass transportation in Nigeria. Therefore, there is a need to further educate drivers and refocus their perceptions about their health with regular health checks – all aimed at having a safer society. The CSR event was divided into three action-packed days, starting with an interactive road show on November 20, 2013 aimed at communicating to commercial drivers the importance of eye screening tests and about the Keystone Bank project. The launch of the CSR event was held at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on November 21 2013 with the aim of promoting a “health-check culture” among commercial bus drivers in Nigeria. Screening of drivers also commenced that day at Jabi Motor Park. The scope of the screening of drivers included testing and identifying their visual acuity; verifying the accuracy of the blood group listed on their driver’s license; providing corrective glasses; and offering health screenings (body mass index, blood pressure readings, fasting/random blood sugar levels and blood lipid profile levels). The last day of the event witnessed screening at Edegbe Park Line on November 22, 2013. In total, the Bank and its partners were able to screen over 200 mini and luxurious bus drivers. With the great responses and results from the Abuja event, the Bank will be continuing the Health and Eye Screening project in motor parks in Lagos and Port Harcourt in 2014 with plans to offer health and eye screening tests in all 6 geo-political zones before 2015.
Just the thought of it was a nightmare: Victoria Island Traffic that is! Yet nobody seemed courageous enough to face the enormous challenge. It would require hours and hours of planning and deployment of huge resources to begin to grapple with it. This was the case for many years until the Bank (then known formerly as Platinum Bank) teamed up with Rotary International of Victoria Island - which had also spoken to all the Banks within the vicinity, without success - in making a difference. Overnight, the gridlock was broken and Nigerians were excited, with many making phone calls, sending emails and letters to register their appreciation: it had taken a lot of human and material resources commitment to achieve. From planning meetings, permits, and documentations with various bodies including our Rotary Partners, consultants and government authorities; to the assemblage and training of traffic wardens, provision of uniforms, monthly upkeep; to erecting road signs, demarcating roads and cleaning up pathways; to communicating the changes multi-media, it was a Herculean task. As always, the bottom-line for us was that it succeeded in making life easier for thousands on a daily basis, and freed up millions of productive man-hours wasted therein. Fortunately, the fundamentals put in place by this initiative have ensured that the traffic situation has continued to improve since then.