The summer of 2019 was a busy one for GBTI. From special promotions to fun summer activities for kids, Guyana’s leading bank had plenty of things on the go. Read on to see what we’ve been up to over the last few months.

Annual summer camps

Every summer, GBTI hosts a week-long summer camp for kids who belong to the bank’s Early Savers Club. Held at GBTI’s staff recreational center in Bel Air, Georgetown, the camp welcomes two different age groups: children between the ages of seven and 11, and youth aged 12 to 15. This year, the summer camp took place during the week of July 15. Participants enjoyed activities such as lawn tennis, arts and crafts, and sessions exploring Guyanese culture and folklore. Camp facilitators this year included Taneka Sanchara from the television program Kids Today, Leaders Tomorrow and Allan Fenty, a literacy and Guyanese folklore expert.

The GBTI Early Savers Club is open to children up to the age of 17. The goal of the Club is to help parents and children plan finances for future education and other needs, and to encourage kids to develop good saving habits from a young age that will continue to benefit them throughout their lives. In addition to the opportunity to attend a GBTI summer camp, some of the other advantages of joining the Early Savers Club include a premium interest rate, eligibility for bursary awards, gift vouchers, and discounts on purchases at participating stores.

GBTI Diamond Tennis Camp

Taking place the week after the annual summer camp, the eighth annual GBTI Diamond Tennis Camp was a huge hit with its 70 participants: the most in the camp’s history! Held at the Diamond Tennis Court in collaboration with the Guyana Tennis Association, the camp welcomed children between the ages of five and 16 from the Diamond area and surrounding East Bank communities. Under the leadership of Andre Erskine of the Diamond Tennis Club, who has been the camp’s facilitating coach for the last three years, participants learned basic tennis skills. The young athletes concluded the week-long event with a friendly competition.

The annual tennis camp is just one of the ways in which GBTI, through its 12 individual branches across Guyana, engages with and gives back to the communities it serves. The tennis camp not only offers Diamond residents the opportunity to use GBTI’s tennis facility, it also helps to promote physical activity for young people and to encourage healthy lifestyles for people of all ages.

Launch of the 2020 Calendar Art Competition

One of GBTI’s most beloved youth initiatives is its annual Calendar Art Competition. Created in order to encourage artistic expression, promote creativity and imagination, further the development of fine art skills, and stimulate young minds, the competition is open to all primary and secondary students in Guyana. At the end of September, all submissions will be reviewed by a team of leading Guyanese artists. Six artworks will be selected to feature in the following year’s calendar.

In the 2019 competition, more than 130 students from over a dozen different schools submitted artwork for consideration. The pieces were an artistic showcase of Guyana’s beautiful flora and fauna, rich natural resources, diverse peoples, and inspiring national symbols. For 2020, the theme of the competition is “Guyana 2020 and Beyond.”

GBTI Visa-Cation Promotion

This summer, GBTI Visa cardholders had a fantastic opportunity to have a perfect vacation with GBTI’s Visa-Cation promotion. Between June 1 and August 31, cardholders who made an in-person or online purchase with their Visa card were eligible to win one of three fabulous prizes: dinner for two at the Guyana Marriott Hotel; a trip for two to Kaieteur Falls, one of the most spectacular natural wonders in Guyana (in partnership with ASL); or the grand prize of two round-trip plane tickets to Trinidad (compliments of LIAT).

GBTI’s Annual Back-to-School Program

Of course, summer has to end sometime, and when it does, GBTI is there to make sure Guyanese students have everything they need to get back to school. A partnership between GBTI’s Corriverton Branch and the FACT organization (Family Awareness Consciousness Togetherness – Community Developers), the Back-to-School Program distributed school uniforms, supplies, backpacks, and lunch bags to more than 100 primary and nursery school students in the Crabwood Creek and Moleson Creek areas in Berbice. In addition, the program featured an Early Savers lottery draw. Ten lucky winners each received a $2,000 gift voucher for the GBTI Early Savers Club.

This summer was the second time that the Back-to-School Program has been held. The inaugural event, held last year at the Scottsburg Community Center in Corriverton, provided necessary school supplies to 76 children. Andre Yhap, the manager of the GBTI Corriverton Branch, announced that he was happy to be able to support even more children this year.