The initiative was officially launched at a ceremony held on the premises of one of the beneficiary schools, the Duose D/A Primary school, Duose, in the Upper West Region.

In a speech to a gathering of pupils, teachers, inhabitants of the Duose community and other dignitaries during the launch, the Deputy Managing Director, Operations and Support Functions of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Atta Yeboah Gyan, stated: “Right from day one, Ghanaians have accepted and co-owned the vision of Fidelity Bank and supported us. From our customers to our partners, shareholders and our regulator, Ghanaians have pushed the Fidelity Bank agenda and made our meteoric rise in the Banking industry possible. We therefore decided that the best way to celebrate this milestone is by saying ‘Thank you’ to Ghanaians for the relentless support that has brought Fidelity Bank thus far.”

He further stated, “We acknowledge that the most effective tool for empowering our youth, harnessing their limitless talent, and securing a bright future for this country, lay in providing quality educational opportunities for majority of our youth by levelling the educational playing field as much as possible across the country. Therefore, in commemoration of our 15th anniversary, I am glad to officially set the ball rolling on our ‘thank you’ initiative aptly dubbed Orange Impact,” he added.

The Orange Impact Initiative is funded by Fidelity Bank as an entity as well as donations from staff of the Bank. The initiative will ensure that beneficiary schools receive support in various forms such as construction of classroom blocks, refurbishment works and provision of teaching and learning materials, depending on the peculiar need of each school.

On his part, the Duose Naa, Naa Bawa Seidu, expressed his profound gratitude to Fidelity Bank for selecting a school in his town as the flagship beneficiary of the Orange Impact project. He stated that the leaders and people of Duose were overjoyed at the impending project which would see the Duose D/A Primary School receive a comprehensive facelift,transforming its current facility into an ultra-modern 6-unit classroom block.

“I am surprised and overjoyed that Duose, a deprived community has been chosen for this project by Fidelity Bank. In fact, this gesture has made me rather emotional. We are grateful to Fidelity Bank and God almighty for what is about to happen, and I believe I speak not only for myself but for the people of Duose, when I say that I cannot wait for this building to be put up”, he said.

The Wa West District Chief Executive, Hon. Vida Dioretey and the Wa West Director of the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Amatus D. Tug-uu who were all present to grace the occasion, commended Fidelity Bank Ghana for its contribution to education and human resource development. They assured the bank of their full support for the project and urged other corporate organisations to take a cue from Fidelity Bank.

With the launch of the initiative, similar projects are also being rolled out in 14 other beneficiary schools located in various regions across the country. Each Branch and Business Office of the Bank has been assigned a supervisory role over a specific school, while staff of the Bank have been enjoined to play a direct role in seeing each project through to completion.