As part of its continued support of UNICEF, Access Bank Group, along with 5th Chukker, The Access Bank UK and Access Private Bank hosted the ‘Access Bank Polo Day’ at the Guards Polo Club, Windsor on Saturday 16th July 2022.
This year the event was attended by over 850 esteemed guests and raised an incredible $1.7million that will be directed towards the building and equipping of over 100 classroom blocks in the less developed areas of Nigeria.
The day was filled with two exciting polo matches between Fifth Chukker, Malcomines and Delaney.
The Khalifa Cup was won by the Delaney team represented by Damian Duncan, Rufino Merlos, Agustin Merlos and Marcos Araya against the Malcomines Ponies.
The Access Bank Cup, which traditionally mixes patrons and some of the biggest names of the game currently playing in the UK resulted in a win for Access Bank. They defeated Fifth Chukker 6-5 on The Queen’s Ground.
Ali Albwardy, who had scored the majority of his team’s goals, also received the Best Playing Pony prize for Jasmine, whom he had played in the first and third chukkas. Ali’s teammate, and Access Bank Day regular, Adamu Atta, was also impressive in this match, delivering some strong runs to goal. The Most Valuable Player prize went to Fifth Chukker’s Ryk Neethling.
HH The 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi, Lamido Sanusi and HRH The Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed N Bamalli who had watched both games from the Access Bank’s exclusive lawn, presented the prizes. After the prize giving, guests adjourned to the marquee for an enjoyable celebration accompanied by a performance from the famous Nigerian saxophonist Bolaji Banjoko.
The event was a huge success and it follows on from Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo Tournament which has so far raised more than N200 million for UNICEF in support of projects aimed at alleviating the plights of the underprivileged children in Kaduna State and its environs.
Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director of Access Holdings PLC and Chairman of The Access Bank UK Ltd, commented “The successes of The Access Bank UK Ltd has been a major milestone in the development of the banking group into the biggest Nigerian Bank in respect of assets and customer base and has charted our course for the future. Together our continuing support for the Fifth Chukker – UNICEF initiative reflects our view of our role as a change agent in Nigeria and Africa that can help institute socio-economic development through responsible business practice, social initiatives and environmental consideration.” “We continue to look for ways to enable more resources to be directed at supporting the children. We are part of the community and as such should support its wellbeing.”