Bank PHB Wednesday opened saving accounts for two outstanding students, after they emerged winners of its recently sponsored inter-school quiz competition organised by the Bank for Grade 10-12 students within the Greater Banjul Area.

The presentation ceremony took place at the Bank's head office along the Kairaba Avenue. Seedy Ndow of the Glory Baptist Senior Secondary School grabbed the first place and was presented with an amount of D10, 000, whilst Musa Kai Samba of Glory Baptist International School came as the first runner up, earning himself D5, 000.

This initiative that started some six months ago, and saw the participation of a number of students within the Greater Banjul Area. It was meant to unearth the students' knowledge on a number of issues crucial to their academic pursuits. The programme, which was also part of the Bank's corporate social responsibility, was running on West Coast Radio hosted by Adams Wilfred and Akinwale Remi, both from Afrinity Productions.

Giving a synopsis of the whole initiative, Adams Winfred of the Afrinity Productions, said that over the years, the Bank has been in the forefront in promoting the country's education sector.He went on to state that in their quest to widen the horizons of students, his production company approached the Bank to sponsor the inter-school quiz competition for grades 10-12 students.

"We intend to do this by broadening their horizons and taking them beyond the school to other venues such as radio programmes. So when we approached the Bank, they welcomed the idea and decided to sponsor the inter-schools radio quiz that has been running on West Coast Radio 2 every Friday from 6 to 7pm. The show later developed to be a household programme in the country as we got a lot of audience," he added.

He informed the gathering that they have already finished the first edition and are now on the second edition. He disclosed that the first edition saw the participation of 32 schools. "The second edition was competed for by 32 students from 8 schools within the Greater Banjul Area.

The winners for this second edition are Seedy Ndow of Glory Baptist Senior Secondary School and Musa Kai Samba of the Glory Baptist International School, as the first runner up," he stated, while thanking the Bank for giving them the opportunity to support the country's education sector.

For his part, the country head of Operations at BankPHB, Chidi Ogbolu, underscored that their CRS flagship, which is education, does not only provide annual scholarships to brilliant students, but extends to the sponsorship of education programmes such as school debates and quizzes. These programmes, he added, are expected to expand opportunities for student entrepreneurship, as well as to enhance their academic success.

"We believe that we should be able to do more in this area as it gives students the opportunity to build their confidence, educate each other and learn new skills. The Bank is honoured to be the proud sponsor of the inter-school quiz competition for grades 10-12, which has been successfully organised and hosted by Afrinity Production. Its initiatives fall in line with our CRS scheme which made us enthusiastic to sponsoring the programme," he added.

Ogbolu informed further that students were keen on participating and using the medium to express themselves and build their talents. Since the establishment of the scheme, he observed, the Bank has spent a significant amount of money in the sum of about D150, 000 alone on this quiz competition over the past six months. He assured that his institution will continue to actively engage Gambian youths and will focus on the proactive orientation of them as a pivot for socio-economic change in the society.

"Projects that support education and youth empowerment will remain our priority and valuable programmes will be identified and sponsored to enhance students' academic success. On the whole, the Bank PHB will continue to work as partners in progress in furtherance of the president's initiatives in the development of our dear country - The Gambia," he further stated.

He used the opportunity to commend Seedy and Musa for taking part in the quiz competition, and further congratulated them on being the two outstanding students. The ceremony was graced by parents of the winners and senior officials of the bank.