Oriental banks on communities to spur economic growth
Lola Yglesias, executive director of Enactus Puerto Rico and Alexandra López-Soler, senior vice president of marketing and public relations for Oriental offer details of the new partnership.
As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, Oriental Bank unveiled Thursday its new corporate social responsibility platform dubbed “Social Innovation,” which pursues empowering communities to embark on entrepreneurship and economic growth.
During its first phase, Oriental will develop the community program in partnership with nonprofit Enactus Puerto Rico, launching four projects in as many locations: “Limitless,” at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus; “One,” at the UPR in Humacao; “Puente Blanco,” at the National University College; and “My Family, My First Venture,” at the Universidad del Este.
“Enactus has a successful track stimulating social entrepreneurship in collaboration with university students, who are team members of the academic institutions. They are based on integrating several elements that distinguish social innovation such as: multi-sectoral work, the integration of the community in the development of programs that promote economic sustainability, and the common goal of creating a social transformation,” said Alexandra López-Soler, senior vice president of marketing and public relations for Oriental during a news conference Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lola Yglesias, executive director of Enactus Puerto Rico said to be “excited” about the initiatives that will be rolled out in coming weeks.
“Oriental’s commitment is solid and their support is extraordinary, which helps us to continue supporting social innovation among the youth of Enactus and achieve that transformation that we so hope for in our communities, and eventually, the island,” she said.
As part of its commitment, starting Oct. 1, Oriental will be selling at its 55 branches an air freshener in the shape of origami, with the Enactus logo, to benefit the organization. The cost will be $1, and the proceeds of the sales will be assigned to the Puerto Rico team that will participate in the global Enactus competition to be held in Beijing, China next month.
“Enactus Puerto Rico teams have stood out as the best in the world and we want to continue helping them compete in this global forum, showing the difference that our young people are making in communities and, therefore, in Puerto Rico,” added López-Soler.
Meanwhile, Oriental employees will actively participate voluntarily in different projects, donating their time to the planning and development of initiatives, mentoring in areas such as management, human resources, financial planning, legal, accounting, etc.
