By Dipo Olowookere
Leading Pan-African financial institution, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, through its Foundation, has renewed its partnership with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for a further three years.
The relationship between the two organisations began in 2011 and the new agreement formalises Ecobank’s support for the Global Fund’s work in Africa.
A selected high-level audience composed of business leaders and development experts were present at the signing ceremony on September 16 2016, in Montreal, Canada.
The event, ‘Changing Africa: Enabling growth through the private sector’, led by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ecobank Foundation, Ms. Julie Essiam, took place on the side-lines of the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment Conference.
According to the terms of the agreement, Ecobank Foundation will work with the Global Fund to build the partnership into an engagement and advocacy platform for organisations and individuals who share a vision of accelerating the transformation of Africa.
Ecobank Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ade Ayeyemi, pledged $3 million at the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment Conference in Montreal.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, hosted the event attended by Heads of State, government officials and hundreds of private sector and development leaders from across the globe.
The Fifth Replenishment raised $12.9 billion with a goal of saving 8 more million lives.
Mr Ayeyemi said, “Our job as bankers is to build the technical infrastructure that brings tens of millions more Africans into a more formal financial system.
Ecobank’s founding fathers established a Pan-African bank to support Africa’s transformation. We are pleased to renew our productive partnership with the Global Fund. I am confident that we are a step closer to enabling prosperity across Africa.”
Through its Foundation, Ecobank will continue to take a prominent role with the Global Fund To Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on the African continent.
Ms Julie Essiam, Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Foundation signed the agreement with Mark Mr Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund.
She said, “The Ecobank Foundation is pleased to be part of a historic moment with the Global Fund and what we are trying to do in Africa, which is to create a “thriving Africa”, and a prosperous continent. It is important for the private sector to collaborate to ensure that we use our platforms to unlock funds which will deliver sustainable progress and prosperity to Africa.”
Programmes supported by the Global Fund partnership have put 9.2 million people on antiretroviral treatment for HIV, provided 15.1 million people with TB treatment and distributed 659 million mosquito nets to protect families from malaria.
Mr Mark Dybul, Executive Director, Global Fund said, “We are excited about the Ecobank partnership, which improves the impact of our grants in numerous ways. When you work to advance financial management, all the way down to sub-recipients in rural areas, that’s hugely important for development.”
The Global Fund is an organization designed to accelerate the end of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as epidemics. As a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by diseases, the Global Fund mobilizes and invests nearly $4 billion annually to support programmes run by local experts in more than 100 countries and supports attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.
