Commercial Bank wins international award for Social Empowerment

Wednesday, 12 March 2014 01:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Commercial Bank CSR Trust has won the prestigious Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Award (AREA) in the sphere of ‘Social Empowerment’ at the 2014 awards held in New Delhi, bringing home yet another major international accolade. Considered Asia’s leading award for responsible entrepreneurship, the AREA award is presented annually in seven categories by Enterprise Asia, a non-governmental organisation in pursuit of entrepreneurship development across the Asian region. It aims to inculcate a culture of ethics and universal justice in the running of businesses as part of a sustainable entrepreneurial framework.

The award presented to Commercial Bank is in recognition of the Bank’s contributions to the education sector in Sri Lanka with three nationally-scaled programmes – the donation of IT laboratories to schools, the annual presentation of scholarships and laptops to undergraduates and a programme to promote English literacy among rural children. These on-going programmes have cumulatively empowered more than 125,000 children and young adults to date, and continue to evolve and grow in scope and reach. “We are encouraged to be assessed alongside our peers not only in Sri Lanka but across the South Asian region for this award,” said Ravi Dias, Managing Director. “Responsible entrepreneurship is one of the cornerstones of Commercial Bank’s corporate value structure, and recognition of this nature will inspire the team to even higher levels of commitment.” Commercial Bank donated its 125th IT Laboratory in early February 2014, and has awarded scholarships to more than 250 undergraduates at six presentations to date. Another batch of undergraduate scholarships is scheduled to be awarded by the Bank this year. The Bank’s English Education programme has already completed two courses that have benefitted more than 350 children. Commercial Bank’s IT Education programme is designed to empower younger generations and the country to face the future with confidence with world-class knowledge. The programme shares synergy with the Bank’s vision of being the most technologically-advanced, innovative and customer- friendly financial services organisation in Sri Lanka. All computer laboratories donated by Commercial Bank are equipped with brand new computers with licensed software. The schools are also provided accessories such as computer tables, printers and chairs, and the Bank provides assistance to maintain and upgrade these computer labs when necessary to ensure that the facilities benefit many batches of students. Launched in Malaysia in 2007, the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) programme recognises and honours Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in the categories of Green Leadership, Investment in People, Health Promotion, Social Empowerment, Corporate Governance, SME CSR and Responsible Business Leadership. The largest private bank in Sri Lanka and the only Sri Lankan Bank to be listed three years consecutively among the world’s Top 1,000 Banks, Commercial Bank operates a network of 235 branches and a network of 585 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won multiple awards as the country’s best bank over several years.