This story is part of the Initiative between Association Konekt and AmCham within the USAID’s Partnership for Giving Project, and is recognized as one of the Best Practices for Corporate Philanthropy.
Introduction
Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje is one of the leading banks in the Republic of North Macedonia, nationally and internationally recognized as a reliable and stable business partner in the field of commercial and investment banking.
Our mission is to be a highly profitable institution, recognized as a leading, independent, private Macedonian bank, offering a universal range of services and enjoying a strong international reputation, professionally supported by a strong market-oriented, well-trained management and staff with the highest degree of expertise and integrity.
For more than 65 years, Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje has been proud of its brand, which means confidence, reliability, innovation and a strong domestic and international reputation. Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje offers a wide range of banking products and services: collecting deposits, approving loans to legal entities and individuals, services in domestic and international payment transactions, as well as activities such as mediation in the purchase and sale of foreign currencies, securities, forfeiture, financial counseling, credit insurance and more.
This Practice as a Game-changer
To be socially responsible during and after a global pandemic was imperative for Komercijalna Banka, and not just regular practice. The Bank’s social responsibility in this period was focused on support of the public health system which took the biggest burden in the fight with the consequences of Covid-19 and the care for the citizens’ health.
Our energy and assets were directed not only towards realization of the business plans and goals, but also towards maintaining the health of our employees and clients, which is by far the most valuable thing we have. The highest priority was to provide support for the Macedonian public health system and by that invest in the most important asset a society can have.
In Komercijalna Banka, we believe that responsibility, sustainability and humanity are the values that will contribute to overcoming of the current crises and for tracing a new trajectory, along which we will walk with new experiences and with many new challenges. The renowned magazine “Global Finance” awarded Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje a Certificate of Recognition for Distinguished Crisis Leadership in 2020, which came as a result of the maximum efforts engaged by the Bank to meet the needs and help its customers in conditions of the pandemic, to protect its employees and to provide support to the society.
The transformative Journey
Protecting health and saving lives during a pandemic that eas unprecedented in recent history was the most difficult task for the public health system.
Providing urgent financial assistance and much needed medical supplies by Komercijalna Banka meant chance for life for many citizens. At the same time, for the public health workers it meant help to preserve their health and to be able to take care of numerous patients more easily.
The donation of vehicles for emergency medical assistance was of great importance for providing urgent medical assistance and saving human lives. Outdated vehicles in the medical centers in Skopje, Negotino and Ohrid have been a long-standing problem and did not allow adequate and urgent care for patients.
Komercijalna Banka is especially proud of its donation for complete renovation of the Department of Cardiology and Rheumatology at the University Clinic for Children’s Diseases because it means taking better care of children and helping them when they are going through serious and unpleasant moments in their lives.
Komercijalna Banka completely renovated the Cardiology and Rheumatology Department of the Children’s Hospital in Skopje with a donation worth MKD 5,000,000.00. The donation of vehicles for emergency medical assistance was of great importance for providing urgent medical assistance and saving human lives.
Paving the Road towards Success
The Bank’s social responsibility starting from 2020 was focused on support of the public health system which took the biggest burden in the fight with the consequences of Covid-19 and the care for the citizens’ health.
Komercijalna Banka in 2020 donated two ambulances, 280 oxygen concentrators, non-invasive ventilation masks and 7,120 tests for Covid-19 in total amount of MKD 20,700,855.00 (about 336,600 Euros), medical face masks worth MKD 1,198,750.00, provided financial support – donation in the amount of MKD 6,150,000.00 for the needs of the Ministry of Health and additional MKD 8,220,000.00 for the employees at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions Skopje and the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of North Macedonia. The total support from the Bank for health workers in 2020 reached 590,000 Euros.
Additionally in 2021, the Bank donated a vehicle for emergency medical assistance to PHI Zdravstven dom Negotino, worth over MKD 2,000,000.00, and provided 30 oxygen flowmeters for oxygen support for public health institutions in the value of MKD 156,780.00.
Komercijalna Banka in 2022 contributed with another donation, this time in honor of marking the International Nurses Week by that expressed its gratitude and respect for their commitment and engagement in saving human lives in the fight against the Covid-19 virus.
Continuing with its mission for significant improvement of the conditions in the public health system, in 2023, Komercijalna Banka completely renovated the Cardiology and Rheumatology Department of the Children’s Hospital in Skopje with a donation worth MKD 5,000,000.00. Thanks to this donation from Komercijalna Banka, the Department of Cardiology and Rheumatology has received a completely new and modern interior design to meet the needs of patients and medical staff. The Department was completely renovated in record time with new beds, sanitary facilities, pantries and cupboards.
Objectives’ Achievement
Humanity, compassion, solidarity and concern for the quality of life of all citizens is our permanent mission, in which we are guided by our motto that it is easier to achieve greater success together. (Полесно е заедно)
As a socially responsible company, we enable economy and society to prosper.
The Covid-19 pandemic has compelled us to rethink the way we conduct many things and to respond rapidly to ongoing developments. This situation has triggered another surge of interest in sustainability and Komercijalna Banka has responded with critical action in difficult times: good leadership.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19 virus posed a serious threat to the health and lives of citizens, which exhausted medical resources and the strength of health professionals. With its urgent and significant donations, Komercijalna Banka aimed to make a new step and give significant support to the society in these exceptional moments for our country and the citizens. Our goal as a bank was to help the health authorities in coping with the consequences of the virus.
After coping with the pandemic, we continued with extraordinary contributions for public health in order to help improve the care for every patient – providing quality environment for the patient’s stay and conditions for utmost care and attention by the medical staff. Our mission with these donations is to help the public health departments obtain new and improved conditions that will help patients more easily accept medical treatment and give them the necessary energy and optimism to faster overcome all challenges.
The care are for better health of the citizens should be a top priority to any institution in society, and Komercijalna Banka, as a socially responsible company, remains true to its commitment to help public health so that we can reach a better society for everyone together and more easily.
Further Action
The care for better health of the citizens should be a top priority to any institution in society. The aid for better public health conditions should be continuous, timely and accessible to every citizen who needs it.
Responsibility, sustainability and humanity are the values that will contribute to overcoming every crises and to tracing a new trajectory, along which we will walk with new experiences and many new challenges. Stability, trust and commitment will help us a lot because they are the basis of everything we have achieved so far and what we strive for in the future.
In the meantime, many debates have been opened at global level as economic, social, health and political crises are being solved at the same time. But without a doubt, current inputs will lead to solutions in which sustainability will play the main role. And it would all be is unsustainable without devotion to personal, and corporate social responsibility.
There are 25 children treated on daily basis, or 4.620 children treated annually at the Department of Cardiology and Rheumatology of the University Clinic for Children’s Diseases. For them and their families, the stay and treatment in this clinic means a big life challenge, and therefore any relief and improvement of treatment conditions is of great importance. Komercijalna Banka is especially proud that its contribution made it possible for the young patients to feel more comfortable and cheerful in the hospital rooms, as well as for the medical staff to perform their duties more easily and efficiently in the fight to improve children’s health. Taking into account the state of public health and the importance of services for the health of citizens, which in the current multi-year economic crisis have serious difficulties in providing the necessary health services and treatments, Komercijalna Banka, as a proven supporter of public health, remains consistent with its strategy to contribute to further improvement of conditions in the public health system. According to the Bank’s Corporate Strategy and the Social Responsibility Strategy 2022-2026, in the forthcoming period Komercijalna Banka plans donations for better public health system for all citizens, which will be realized based on the Bank’s plans and the needs of state health institutions.