Case study: How Orabank identifies and works on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts

Stakeholder identification and consultation

Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.

As part of its dedication to corporate social responsibility, Orabank has conducted comprehensive work to identify and map its stakeholders in accordance with Principle #1 of the ISO 26000 standard. Orabank’s approach is grounded in GRI standards, ensuring a thorough and standardized methodology. The process began with a document review and benchmarking at both the international and sectoral levels, followed by an assessment of how Orabank engages with its stakeholders. This enabled Orabank to segment its stakeholders into homogeneous groups and sub-groups, facilitating a deeper understanding of their expectations and priorities.

After completing the stakeholder mapping, the results were presented to the Steering Committee, composed of the Communications Departments from the countries where Oragroup operates. A collaborative exercise was then undertaken to evaluate the importance of each stakeholder group and validate the prioritization. This process allowed Orabank to concentrate its efforts on the most influential and relevant stakeholders for its sustainability initiatives.

Recognizing its role as a significant economic actor, Orabank is committed to a proactive corporate social responsibility approach. This strategy not only helps Orabank contribute to the sustainable economic development of the countries in which it operates but also supports the overall performance of the Orabank Group. Orabank incorporates the key interests of its stakeholders while adopting a pragmatic and realistic perspective on the specific challenges faced within each region and business sector.

Ultimately, the quality of service provided by Oragroup depends on several factors: the dedication of its employees, collaboration with its suppliers and partners, and the trust built with customers, investors, and other stakeholders. Orabank’s business model is rooted in these strong relationships, which guarantee the sustainability of its activities and the satisfaction of its stakeholders.

How did Orabank identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?

In its 2024 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template Orabank reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:

Orabank Group is deeply committed to promoting responsible and sustainable finance across West Africa. In 2022, Orabank signed the Principles for Responsible Banking and plans to join the Green Fund initiative in Central Africa, opening new opportunities to finance environmental and social projects. As a responsible organization, Orabank recognizes significant development potential in energy transition, particularly through supporting renewable energy generation and minimizing environmental impacts in vital sectors such as mobility and firewood consumption. To this end, Orabank has introduced financial products like Cap Energie and Cap Bleu to assist businesses in managing energy and water sustainably, and is actively working to expand its financing solutions to include projects aimed at reducing local emissions and improving air quality. However, these opportunities also present notable challenges, including the need to develop effective monitoring, measurement, and control systems, as well as to enhance employee training to ensure proper ESG impact management. In the short term, Orabank aims to strengthen its strategy and equip itself with the tools necessary to track and evaluate the performance of its initiatives. Looking ahead, Orabank aspires to become a leading player in sustainable finance in Africa, actively supporting energy transition and social inclusion through tangible, measurable projects. Orabank’s employees, the Orabankers, are central to this vision, and it is vital to fully involve them in Orabank’s CSR efforts to ensure that its commitment to sustainable development is integrated at every level of the organization.

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.

FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:

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The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.

References:

This case study is based on published information by Orabank, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.orabank-reporting.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PRB-Reporting-and-Self-Assessment-ORAGROUP-ENG.pdf

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