The bank’s flagship project, “A Sandal More for a Better Tomor­row,” which began in 2023, earned three notable awards:SSI Project of the Year (Educa­tion), Best Company in Recycling Education & Practices, and Inno­vative Project of the Year.

The project, one of the bank’s CSI initiatives, seeks to donate over 20,000 sandals in its phase two to underprivileged school children across the country this year after donating thousand sandals in phase one last year.

It presents an innovative way to upcycle used car tyres into quality, eco-friendly school sandals aimed at providing comfortable footwear to deprived school children. An exciting feature of the second phase of the project is the “Better Tomorrow Truck,” which is distributing sandals across all 16 regions of Ghana.

The truck is visiting 200 schools selected by one of our project partners Ghana Education Service (GES) and suggestions from staff of Access Bank and through our social media engage­ment, ensuring that the initiative reaches truly deserving children across Ghana.

Furthermore, to offset the emissions from the Better Tomor­row Truck’s journey, Access Bank (Ghana) Plc and its partners; Rana Motors and Horseman Shoes, have committed to planting trees in all schools visited across all 16 regions, demonstrating the proj­ect’s dedication to environmental sustainability.

The project has also created sustainable jobs for over 500 local shoemakers in the Ashanti Region, who are responsible for producing the sandals, demonstrating the concept of waste-to-wealth.

In other landmark wins, Man­aging Director, Olumide Olatunji was named ‘SSI CEO of the Year’ for his visionary leadership and his support on environmental and so­cial initiatives the bank champions across the country.

In his remarks, Olumide Ola­tunji expressed gratitude for the recognition, stating that: “These awards come at a time when we are celebrating 15 years of empowering lives and advancing sustainable development.”

“We remain committed to providing sustainable financing, inspiring Africa, empowering connections, and promoting Go Green initiatives to build a greener, more sustainable future for all. We believe in the power of small actions contributing to great impacts. This is evident in our ini­tiatives in empowering children,” he explained.

Mr Oluwaseun David-Akin­dele, Head of Corporate Com­munications, was awarded the SSI Sustainability Professional of the Year.

“We could not have achieved this without the support of all our partners on our various sustainability projects. At Access Bank, we believe in the power of partnerships to drive meaningful impacts. A special thank you to all our partners, Management and Staff, customers, and our social media community for their un­flinching commitment to achiev­ing these remarkable feats,” Mr David-Akindele said.