GCB rolls out initiative to plant 7,000 trees

The GCB Bank PLC (GCB) last Friday rolled out the “GCB Greens Ghana for Life” initiative, which aims to plant 7,000 trees in commemoration of the bank’s 70th anniversary to serve as its contribution towards the Green Ghana Project, which is under the auspices of the government.

The roll-out, therefore, formed part of the celebration of Green Ghana Day and it involved the active participation of the Board of Directors and Management staff of the bank who joined President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and thousands of Ghanaians at the University of Ghana for the national tree planting event, which is the highlight of Green Ghana Day. 

Anniversary

Briefing journalists, a director of the bank, Alhassan Yakubu, said the anniversary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative was in line with the bank’s environmental agenda, which, among others, sought to support the national effort to mitigate climate change by improving the country’s vegetative cover.

“The GCB Greens Ghana for Life initiative, therefore, is a key CSR contribution of the bank which aligns with the government’s Green Ghana Project which aims to plant 10 million trees to replace and improve the country’s lost green environment and strengthen our chances of winning the fight against climate change,” he said.

The bank was represented at the recent tree-planting at the University of Ghana by a member of the GCB Board of Directors, Daniel Kwaku Tweneboah Asirifi, together with the Deputy Managing Director, Operations, Emmanuel Odartey Lamptey.

Others were the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Eric Coffie; the General Legal Counsel, Jessie Jacintho; the Head of Corporate Banking, Linus Kumi, and the Executive Business Manager, Kofi Osei-Asibey.

The effort to plant trees at other locations of the bank was spearheaded by the Executive Director, Wholesale and Investment Banking, Sam Aidoo, who led one of the teams to the GCB Learning Centre at Nungua to plant trees just as similar exercises led by key GCB staff were carried out across almost 100 of the bank’s 186 branches and locations in the country.

 The team that undertook the tree planting exercise at the GCB Learning Centre included the Executive Head, Retail Banking, John Adamah; the Head of Strategy and Research, Francis Danyi; the Chief Risk Officer, Theophilus Aryee; the Head of Banking Operations, Dominic Cobbinah, and the Chief Internal Auditor, Sina Kigmagate, among others. 

Development

Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu said, “For 70 years, GCB has contributed in significant ways to support Ghana’s economic development.

In addition to financing projects, our CSR initiatives have been strategically aimed at responding and intervening in critical social development needs.”

He said in the bank’s 70th year, GCB was once again contributing towards a solution to a national problem, stressing that “on the occasion of the bank’s 70th anniversary celebrations, we are happy to implement one of our 70th anniversary heritage initiatives, which would see it contribute 7,000 trees to support Ghana’s tree population thereby, significantly improving our chances in the fight against climate change and to secure a sustainable environment”.