Here Comes The Futuremakers
At Standard Chartered, we believe everyone deserves an equal opportunity to learn, earn and grow. Globally, more than 200 million young people – often disproportionately impacted by the challenges of inequality – are out of work or live in low-income poverty, and that’s just not good enough.
With our Futuremakers by Standard Chartered initiative, we are working with disadvantaged young people – especially girls and the visually impaired – to gain new skills and expertise to improve their chances of getting a job or starting their own business.
We have committed to raise KES 40 million in 2023 to tackle inequality and increase economic inclusion for young people across our markets. In Kenya, the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon is a platform for promoting awareness and raising funds for Futuremakers initiatives in the communities we serve.
Developing economies, in particular, have a high percentage of unemployed or vulnerably employed young people as high as 66% in Africa who lack the right skills and opportunities to realize their ambitions.
In this challenging global reality, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to “achieve full and productive employment, and decent work, for all women and men by 2030”, requires a concerted effort between governments, multilateral institutions, and responsible corporations.
With Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, we will use our expertise as a bank and work through staff volunteering and local partners to help young people access jobs and economic opportunities. By enabling young people to realize their full potential, we’re aiming to promote economic inclusion and drive commerce and prosperity in the communities where we do business.
Funds raised from the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon have allowed us to execute several initiatives:
- In 2020, partnering with Light for The World, we have launched a programme to reach 3,700 youth focused on building employability capacity among youth with disabilities as well as those without. Working with 5 universities to offer work readiness training covering topics such as trends in the employment space, financial literacy and money management, relationship and people management, just to name a few.
- We have partnered with KipKeino Foundation and have been able to reach over 500 athletes from Uasin Gishu, Kericho, Kisii, Narok, Kajiado, Nyandarua, and Embu Counties with literacy and entrepreneurship training. We have equipped young and upcoming athletes with knowledge on business ideation, managing, and growing businesses, investment, retirement planning as well as debt management.
- Over the last four years, we have invested USD 800,000 through our Women in Technology Incubator programme providing over 40 women-led businesses with business management training and seed funding. The programme is run in partnership with @iBizAfrica Strathmore University. We recently launched a revolving fund to help fill the financing gap faced by small businesses.
- To drive our Education pillar, we continue to roll out the “GOAL” programme that targets adolescent girls. In 2020, we reached over 5,000 young girls equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to be economic leaders in their families, communities, and societies. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SC Foundation funded a Goal partnership proposal named “Bouncing Back” to a tune of USD 180,000. Bouncing Back aims to reduce the rates of youth unemployment by targeting girls including those living with disabilities. The project will provide soft loans, seed grants, and psycho-social support that will enhance the development of income-generating activities for young ladies.
- Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank set aside a USD 100,000 relief fund to support over 600 households in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kilifi. This partnership with Kenya Community Development Fund will help with this with over 600 households expected to get access to community hygiene and health package initiatives, food relief packages, and cash transfers as well as resilience interventions to help individuals improve on their livelihoods.
The FutureMakers Initiative builds on the success of our global Seeing is Believing (SiB) initiative to tackle avoidable blindness and visual impairment. Between 2003 and 2018, we reached more than 176 million people through SiB and raised more than USD100 million.
You can donate towards Futuremakers
Standard Chartered Bank
Account Name: SCB MARATHON REGISTRATION FEES
A/C No: 0102802238400
Or
M-Pesa Paybill 329329
Account 0102802238400