by Tawanda Musariri
Pan African banking group Ecobank, has mobilized US$200 000, joining the local corporate community in fighting cholera. To date, the corporate community has raised $13.3 million with Government raising $15.7 million towards the required total of $64.1 million.
In a press release accompanying the donation, the bank said, “In response to the call, Ecobank Zimbabwe has mobilised financial support to provide water treatment chemicals to the affected residents. Staff of the bank and the bank’s partners that include Sakunda Energy, Feed Seeds and Grain (FSG), Raw Fert, Afrochine Smelting, Multimedia and Nelspot Brands have responded to the call and mobilised USD100,000 in cash towards procurement of 220,000 bottles of Waterguard, water purification chemicals to be distributed to the affected communities.
“The bank then raised the required USD 100,000 in foreign currency from its associates in the group in order to support the production of these chemicals locally. In further supporting the staff and partner initiative, Ecobank has provided an additional $100,000 in cash to support other interventions towards alleviating the national challenge bringing its total support to $200,000.
“The support provided by our staff members goes beyond the normal call of duty to demonstrate that our staff value the health of our communities beyond the banking relationships we share,” said the Managing Director of Ecobank Zimbabwe, Moses Kurenjekwa.
The donation was handed over by Mr Kurenjekwa to President Mnangagwa at Munhumutapa Offices on behalf of the Group CEO who was also in the country recently to support the local franchise’s efforts play a bigger part in supporting the local economy.
“Mr Kurenjekwa further added that the “overwhelming response of our partners to this noble cause shows that we have strong partners who are keen to partner with the bank in areas of national interest and can never be taken for granted. It is by harnessing these partnerships that we can surely achieve our goals of contributing to the development and integration of African in true pan African spirit.”
Ecobank has a presence in 36 African countries operating 940 branches that employ 16 000 workers.
Cholera hit Harare early this month following poor sanitation driven by a collapsing obsolete water and sewer reticulation system managed by the City of Harare.
