Ecobank re-launches foundation to support transformation

Ecobank has re-launched its foundation on the side-lines of the just concluded Global Fund's Fifth Replenishment Conference, in Montreal.

Known as Ecobank Foundation, the new focus is targeted at health, education, and Financial Inclusion, while working with partners across the continent to enhance the lives of the communities in Africa.

Ecobank Group Chief Executive Officer, Ade Ayeyemi, said: 'Ecobank's founding fathers established a Pan-African bank to support Africa's transformation. We are committed to financial inclusion to extend financial services to Africa's low-income segments, including the unbanked.

'We are re-launching the Ecobank Foundation to accelerate efforts towards this transformation.'

But the Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Foundation, Julie Essiam, added: 'The African private sector is the continent's engine of growth. The Foundation will leverage Ecobank's considerable strengths and resources as a financial institution to empower and improve the lives of Africans now and in the future.'

The Ecobank Foundation, she said, aims to become the go-to partner for organisations interested in the transformation of Africa.

The Foundation has renewed its partnerships with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for a further three years.

Programmes supported by the Global Fund partnership have put 9.2 million people on antiretroviral treatment for HIV, provided 15.1 million people with TB treatment and distributed 659 million mosquito nets to protect families from malaria.

'As we re-launch the Foundation, we renew our commitment towards our role in leading the transformation of Africa, and a prosperous Continent.

Our decision to reposition the Ecobank Foundation is one that aligns us with the investments required for our vision of transformation.

'The transformation we are interested in, is about prosperity for our children and generations to come, and the perpetual thriving of this continent - simply put, it is Africa Thriving!' she adeed.

The Ecobank Foundation is also collaborating with leaders and organisations across Africa to improve access to education.

It recently partnered with AfricaThriving International, to begin with building five state-of-the-art primary schools in Ghana, and eventually across Africa.

The partnership, labelled 'The Model School Project', aims to provide access to quality education to all children. It will focus its resources in providing advanced learning facilities to thousands of learners.

The foundation calls on leaders and organizations of the Continent to join hands to drive the accelerated transformation of Africa.