Through the School Designed for You project, we have equipped 13 computer labs in 11 Serbian cities, with more than 10 million dinars allocated for implementation
The bank has to date invested more than 4.8 million euros in numerous programmes and various projects to support the community, mainly in the areas of healthcare, education, environmental protection, culture and equality.
The business sector is supporting communities increasingly year-on-year. This has proven invaluable in crisis situations, but also beneficial under normal circumstances?
In the case of Eurobank Direktna, support to the community has been present since the very beginning of our operations in Serbia, when – 20 year ago – corporate social responsibility has been established as an integral part of the business strategy.
Over the previous years, with a desire to provide comprehensive support to society, we have focused on areas needing help the most. This support hasn’t decreased even during difficult times, on the contrary, and thus our efforts during the COVID pandemic, when we strongly supported the healthcare sector, were highly noted publicly.
Do you have data on how much you’ve invested in various community support programmes and projects since 2003?
Through independent projects and participation in initiatives of our partners, we have invested so far more than 4.8 million euros, in areas such as healthcare, education, ecology, culture and equality. Despite all areas being of equal importance, over recent years support has been focused on two priorities: healthcare, particularly during the pandemic, and youth.
The “School Designed for You” project, intended for students of secondary schools, remains among the priorities. Over the course of the previous five years, during which this project has been implemented, 13 computer labs have been provided with necessary IT equipment in 11 Serbian cities, with more than 10 million dinars allocated for implementation.
Since the very beginnings, Eurobank Direktna has been constantly committed to investing in the community where it operates. Owing to this strategy, the Bank became the first financial institution in Serbia to receive the CSR certificate granted by NALED, ten years ago
Given that we also base our CSR activities on the promotion of culture, since last year the project has been enhanced by cooperation with the museum “House of Jevrem Grujić” and publishing house “Laguna”. Through the educational programme entitled “Travelling Museum”, students have an opportunity to get acquainted with Serbian history and culture, as well as various artistic skills. Additionally, Eurobank Direktna provided secondary school students with an opportunity to meet with great names of domestic literature, in cooperation with “Laguna”.
It was ten years ago that Eurobank Direktna became the first financial institution in Serbia to receive a NALED certificate of corporate social responsibility. Do you still adhere to those principles?
Since the beginning of its operations in Serbia, Eurobank Direktna has adhered to the principles of supporting the society and local community in which operates, and the NALED certificate served as an additional incentive to continue developing in the same, responsible way. We have implemented numerous projects in the meantime, for example, within partnership with the famous football club, we have organized the Manchester United Soccer School, which, apart from being educational, also served to promote responsibility. And today, a decade after receiving NALED certificate, I am pleased to say that we still have the same goals, striving always to be a good partner to the community, employees, and partners, but primarily to our clients.
