BESA goes above and beyond the call of an ordinary financial institution, involving itself in sustainable development and environmental issues by financing groundbreaking projects from a grassroots to the most multinational level as only a world-class bank can.
For example, BESA has become a pioneer in the concept of green banking. Along with the Angolan Development Bank (BFA) and the African Investment Bank (BAI), BESA has funded BioCom, the Bioenergy Company of Angola, which focuses on the production of sugar and ethanol in the Cacuso region. BioCom, a joint venture between parastatal oil and gas company Sonangol, Angola-based company Damer, and Brazilian firm Odebrecth, is expected to generate 30 million liters of ethanol, 250 tons of sugar, and 160,000 MWh of electricity per year.
Behind BESA’s involvement in environmental and corporate social responsibility issues is its CEO, Alvaro Sobrinho, who, since 2007, has spearheaded the bank’s financial and strategic initiatives to share the concept of sustainable development throughout BESA, Angola and the world.
To better concentrate on each of the bank’s varied interests, its activities are divided into four pillars: economy (BESA), social (BESA Social), cultural and scientific (BESA Cultura) and environment (BESA Environment). This last realm is where the bank caught the attention of UNESCO, which described it as “the banking institution that most stands out for its support of spreading the message of environmental protection and sustainability.”
Collaborating closely with the Angolan Ministry of Environment, BESA produces special environmental education kits—including books, activity sheets and a CD— that, in the first phase, were distributed among schools in the provinces of Luanda, Huambo and Huila. The idea now is to take this project to the entire country.
0 COMMENTS