Nepal Investment Bank Limited Taking Corporate Social Responsibility Seriously

It's not everyday that banks make headlines because of a demonstrated commitment to their corporate social responsibility principles. But in the case of Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIBL), it seems to be an ongoing effort. I hope banks worldwide take NIBL's example and apply it to their own corporate social responsibility programs. What's particularly refreshing about NIBL is that they seem to focus on projects that not only help their society but the environment as well.

Amongst its biggest corporate social responsibility initiatives thus far this year are a cultural heritage preservation project, involvement in conservation efforts of Mt. Everest, providing assistance to flood victims as well as providing finance resources to restore historic homes. What a contrast to the Wall Street financial district debacles, where much of the attention was on questionable ethics, face saving tactics and rampant finger-pointing. What a different world from the one in which self-serving companies with little regard for fairness qualify as candidates to the "corporate hall of shame" poll.

NIBL participated in the Extreme Everest Expedition (EEE) 2010 campaign, whose primary aim was to to pick up trash from the respect-commanding mountains of the world. The campaign set its sights on an area called the Death Zone, which is above 8,000 meters (around 26,246 feet!). The expedition began on April 25th and went on for about 50 days. It took a team of 31 Sherpas, 20 mountaineers and 11 porters to make it happen, and they did so successfully. According to Chakra Karki, the coordinator of the expedition, "We took the initiative as the slopes of Everest are littered with heaps of garbage," he's quoted as saying in the Republica. "We were alarmed after melting snow exposed the garbage," he says. Apparently it's not just Everest that's littered with garbage, but the lot of commonly-sought after mountains in this part of world, following 60 years of human exploration. The EEE not only focused on loading out much garbage, but they also raised awareness on pollution, climate change and the urgency of maintaining a clean ecosystem.

A documentary is in the works and is expected to be released in December of this year, according to Shivant Pande, NIBL's head of corporate social responsibility. Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Prithvi Bahadur Pande says they're especially interested in using the film to educate and motivate school-age kiddos. And if this financial institution sounds like an unusual corporate social responsibility citizen to you as well, get a load of this: with permission from the respective families, the group also brought with them the bodies of climbers Duganov Sergey, a Russian who died this year, and Gianni Goltz, a Swiss who died in 2008.

The bank is hoping that the Nepalese government will step up to the plate in its efforts to reach out to mountaineers so they don't leave their trash up the mountains. And CEO Pande shares that NIBL is looking to take some of the funds they collect from their charitable work and apply it to more cultural heritage preservation as part of NIBL's CSR plans in the days ahead. Hat's off to you, NIBL.