FirstBank Sparks Global Kindness with 2025 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Week
Omobola Sadiq
FirstBank, West Africa’s premier financial institution and a leader in financial inclusion, has announced the commencement of its 2025 Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) Week, scheduled to take place from October 27 to November 1, 2025.
Now in its ninth edition, the annual CR&S Week underscores the Bank’s commitment to advancing community development, environmental protection, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Themed around the “Start Performing Acts of Random Kindness” (SPARK) initiative, this year’s event aims to strengthen FirstBank’s legacy of fostering compassion, social impact, and sustainable progress across Africa and beyond. Through SPARK, the Bank continues to encourage individuals and communities to express empathy through simple, selfless gestures that can inspire lasting change.
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During the week-long event, employees from across the FirstBank Group — including FirstBank Nigeria, FirstBank UK, FirstBank Gambia, FirstBank Sierra Leone, FirstBank DRC, FirstBank Guinea, FirstBank Ghana, FBNBank Senegal, First Pension, and First Nominees — will volunteer their time and resources to execute projects that uplift lives and protect the planet.
Speaking on the significance of the initiative, Olayinka Ijabiyi, Acting Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications at FirstBank, described the CR&S Week as a platform to demonstrate the power of kindness and collective action.
“CR&S Week is a call to action. It is about showing up for humanity, being kind to one another, and proving that even the smallest act can ripple into lasting change,” Ijabiyi said. “FirstBank believes that kindness is a currency that never devalues, and that is why, every year since 2017, our staff have gone the extra mile to give back to the communities through the SPARK initiative, while encouraging others to perform acts of random kindness.”
A key highlight of the 2025 edition is the tree-planting initiative, which aligns with Nigeria’s 2060 decarbonisation agenda. FirstBank plans to plant 20,000 trees in partnership with the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), marking the final phase of its pledge to plant 50,000 trees by 2025.
