Absa Bank, BEN Africa step up ethical business practices promotion

Absa Bank Ghana Ltd has partnered with Business Ethics Network Africa (BEN Africa) to hold a conference to promote ethical business practices to increase operational efficiency and productivity.

The event, which would be held in November 2024, would receive support from the Ghana Communications Technology University.

Participating Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) would also be introduced to the Ethically Aware Supplier Induction Programme to equip suppliers with the requisite knowledge to manage risks and ensure compliance.

The BEN Africa conference, originally established at Nelson Mandela University Business School in South Africa, serves as a key platform for business leaders and stakeholders across private, public, and non-profit sectors to engage in meaningful dialogue about ethical decision-making in business.

Speaking at the launch of the conference in Accra, Dr Edward Nartey Botchway, Managing Director, Absa Bank, said the conference would drive conversations around moral integrity amid growing challenges to ethical conduct in Africa.

He noted that the conference would enable practitioners in the financial sector to learn and incorporate values and principles, and be able to engage customers better.

Mr Botchway encouraged businesses to prioritise high values in their operations, stating that ethics was not just a corporate obligation, but a critical path to a long-term business growth.

Mrs Judith Haizel, Compliance Director, Absa Bank, urged organisations and staff of banks to use the conference as a platform to further enhance their knowledge on organisational ethics.

“We already know that the staff and our suppliers are continuously aware of their ethics and it has become an entrenched part of them but this conference will further enhance their ethics,” she said.

“We expect an engaging and robust discussions where new ideas will be generated.  The staff and our suppliers will have to leverage on the conference to improve on their ethics to enhance operations,” she added.

Mrs Haizel urged business leaders to create an environment where ethical principles would be highly upheld, because ethical principles formed the bedrock of sustainable growth of business organisations.

Professor George Ampong, Dean, Ghana Communication Technology University Business School, highlighted the role higher education institutions played in inculcating the culture of ethics among businesses and Ghanaians.

He, therefore, called on stakeholders in the business and regulatory community to encourage the studying of contemporary issues and topics, especially ethics in higher learning institutions.

Source: GNA

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