Absa, together with Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA), celebrated the launch of their new Absa Green Vehicle Finance product, by donating 150 trees to the grateful community of Glen Ridge, Soweto on 24 August 2011. The tree distribution followed the product launch at the Absa West Towers in Johannesburg.
This initiative makes Absa the first South African auto-financier to offer customers rebates of up to 0.75% (in addition to the normal individualised pricing they would have enjoyed) when they purchase passenger vehicles with a carbon output of less than 120g/km. Additionally, for each vehicle sold, a tree will be planted free of charge on behalf of the customer by Absa.
This was indeed a great day, where the community members, young and old, came in numbers to receive and celebrate the donation of 150 trees by Absa. The programme started in high spirits as Nokhaya Makrexeni, a gospel artist, led the community in song.
The first speaker, Solomon Mondlane, FTFA Community Forester in charge of this project, welcomed all. Nosipho Sibanda, a poet, followed by singing praise to the world’s longest living species, the tree. “You are a gift of life, without you we would all perish,” exclaimed Nosipho.
The next speaker was Themba Nkuna, another FTFA Community Forester, who spoke of FTFA’s five programmes and emphasised the importance of trees.
Travis Spencer-Coye, Portfolio Manager at Absa Retail Bank, gave a short speech explaining how Absa’s new Green Finance product launch would ultimately benefit the communities of South Africa through the donation of trees with every vehicle sold. Furthermore, Travis presented the three Community Educators with Absa branded certificates, recognizing their participation in basic training on how to plant trees, the benefits of trees and clean and green suburbs and gardening, how to communicate with their neighbours about the value of trees in our lives, how to plant and maintain trees, and basic climate change information.
To conclude the programme, Solomon and Travis conducted a detailed and energetic tree planting demonstration for the community before performing a lively cultural dance, along with three other Absa representatives, and handing out the trees to the enthusiastic residents of Glen Ridge.
“We had a poem by Nosipho Sibanda and music items from Nokhaya Makrexeni. What a great day as the sponsor and community members sang and danced together celebrating the trees,” concluded Solomon.
This initiative makes Absa the first South African auto-financier to offer customers rebates of up to 0.75% (in addition to the normal individualised pricing they would have enjoyed) when they purchase passenger vehicles with a carbon output of less than 120g/km. Additionally, for each vehicle sold, a tree will be planted free of charge on behalf of the customer by Absa.
This was indeed a great day, where the community members, young and old, came in numbers to receive and celebrate the donation of 150 trees by Absa. The programme started in high spirits as Nokhaya Makrexeni, a gospel artist, led the community in song.
The first speaker, Solomon Mondlane, FTFA Community Forester in charge of this project, welcomed all. Nosipho Sibanda, a poet, followed by singing praise to the world’s longest living species, the tree. “You are a gift of life, without you we would all perish,” exclaimed Nosipho.
The next speaker was Themba Nkuna, another FTFA Community Forester, who spoke of FTFA’s five programmes and emphasised the importance of trees.
Travis Spencer-Coye, Portfolio Manager at Absa Retail Bank, gave a short speech explaining how Absa’s new Green Finance product launch would ultimately benefit the communities of South Africa through the donation of trees with every vehicle sold. Furthermore, Travis presented the three Community Educators with Absa branded certificates, recognizing their participation in basic training on how to plant trees, the benefits of trees and clean and green suburbs and gardening, how to communicate with their neighbours about the value of trees in our lives, how to plant and maintain trees, and basic climate change information.
To conclude the programme, Solomon and Travis conducted a detailed and energetic tree planting demonstration for the community before performing a lively cultural dance, along with three other Absa representatives, and handing out the trees to the enthusiastic residents of Glen Ridge.
“We had a poem by Nosipho Sibanda and music items from Nokhaya Makrexeni. What a great day as the sponsor and community members sang and danced together celebrating the trees,” concluded Solomon.
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