Standard Chartered Bank has announced that September 21st to October 20th will be ‘Employee Volunteering Month’.

With over 8,000 staff in Africa, the bank encourages its staff to use their interests and skills to help out in the local communities where it is based to make a real difference.

Members of staff have three days each outside their leave to engage in volunteering. Many spend time working on causes the bank supports -- such as eradicating preventable blindness, support for people living with HIV/AIDS, or financial education. Other employees choose to volunteer for a cause close to their own heart; from planting trees, mentoring to training youth on health and hygiene.

Commenting on the launch, Kweku Bedu-Addo, CEO, Standard Chartered Ghana said: “We believe that volunteering is good for our communities, staff and our business. The bank offers every employee three days paid leave to volunteer, and it’s great to see staff showing strong commitment and passion to serving the community in which we operate. We look forward to the opportunity of using our skills in making a unique contribution to Ghana this year”.

Last year Standard Chartered staff donated over 9,700 employee volunteering days in Africa, with Ghana contributing 1,730 of these.