Zenith General Insurance Limited has donated school bags, exercise books and mathematical sets to students in six selected schools in Lagos State, combining educational support with a message urging young people to embrace preparation, perseverance and purpose as pathways to success.
The initiative, implemented under the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, seeks to ease the financial burden on parents, improve students’ access to essential learning materials and promote inclusive education, particularly among children in public schools.
The intervention also illustrates a broader role insurance companies can play in addressing vulnerability beyond paying claims: supporting community resilience and helping families cope with everyday financial pressures that can undermine long-term opportunities.
Speaking during the presentation at Alimosho Junior Grammar School, Dolapo Olatayo Talabi, general manager at Zenith General Insurance, urged students to approach their education with purpose, preparation and perseverance.
Under the theme, “Prepared for Success,” Talabi told the pupils that their classroom experiences, assignments and daily choices could shape their future prospects. She encouraged them not to allow their age or the location of their schools to limit their ambitions.
“Success is not an accident. Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” she said, urging the students to remain committed to academic excellence and personal development.
Hashim Okunbor, head of corporate communications at Zenith General Insurance, said the back-to-school initiative was designed partly to ease the financial pressures families face at the beginning of a new academic session.
“As a company, we believe strongly that children are the future. The Back-to-School Initiative allows us to maximise long-term social impact and build multigenerational brand loyalty. But more importantly, we know that the new school session comes with some financial pressure on parents, hence our decision to help in our own little way,” he said.
Okunbor said the beneficiary schools were selected in consultation with the relevant local government school district to extend the intervention across different communities. He added that the company assessed community needs annually to identify areas where its resources could make a practical difference.
The latest donation builds on the insurer’s previous education-related intervention, including support for a school library project in 2024.
However, the scale of need in public schools suggests that such initiatives are best viewed as complementary support rather than a substitute for sustained public investment in education. Donations can help families meet immediate needs, but lasting improvements require consistent funding for teaching resources, infrastructure and other conditions necessary for effective learning.
Responding on behalf of the six beneficiary schools, Ige Adekunle Mary, principal of Alimosho Junior Grammar School, said the donation would provide relief to parents struggling to meet their children’s basic needs.
She noted that some families found it difficult to afford food and other household necessities, leaving limited resources for school bags, exercise books and related learning materials.
According to her, the intervention could help reduce disparities among pupils from different economic backgrounds by improving access to basic educational supplies. Such support, she said, would also encourage classroom participation and help students follow lessons more effectively.
Mary called on other private-sector organisations to support public schools, describing them as important platforms for grassroots development and national transformation.
“I wish to appreciate Zenith General Insurance and other private organisations and encourage them to see public schools as a rich field for grassroots nation-building,” she said.
She also urged businesses to support improvements in educational infrastructure and extracurricular activities to give students a more rounded learning experience.
Modestus Anaesoronye is a leading Nigerian financial journalist with over two decades of experience reporting on the insurance and pension sectors across Nigeria and West Africa. He has held key editorial positions at major national media outlets, including The Comet, The Nation, and Financial Standard, and currently serves as a Senior Financial Analyst at BusinessDay Media Ltd. A widely travelled reporter, he has covered industry developments in more than 14 countries across Africa and Asia. Anaesoronye is a multiple award-winning journalist, honoured several times as Insurance Journalist of the Year and Pension Journalist of the Year by recognised industry bodies, including PensionScope and the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), among others.
