Standard Chartered Bank celebrates “Futuremakers”

Standard Chartered Bank celebrates “Futuremakers”

Karachi, March 04, 2020: Standard Chartered Pakistan, in partnership with Right to Play, hosted a ceremony to recognise girls from underserved areas that have been trained to become future economic leaders in their communities. This initiative is part of the Bank’s leading community investment programme focused on Education, Goal.

Mrs. Shehla Raza, Provincial Minister of Sindh for Women Empowerment was the chief guest at the ceremony.

As part of the Goal programme, ‘Be Independent’ module was launched in 2018, a module that aims to provide practical experience and equip girls to be ready to generate their own incomes by obtaining a job or developing their own micro-enterprise. Since its launch, over 800 young girls have been empowered with vocational skills, employability skills and other essential knowledge to equip this group to become economic leaders in their communities.

Out of the 800, 40 girls were chosen based on their potential to receive vocational training on specific fields such as cooking, baking, pastry making, learning English language, fashion designing, learning how to use Microsoft Excel and Office, photography, to name a few After a year of hard work, 40 of these girls, whom the Bank calls Futuremakers, have completed vocational trainings and some have even earned gainful employment opportunities.

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, is the bank’s global initiative empowering the next generation to learn, earn and grow through our Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship programmes.

Goal is Standard Chartered’s leading Education programme that falls within the Education pillar of the Bank’s community investment strategy.

Through the Bank’s Goal programme, we aim to empower adolescent girls through a combination of sports and life skills training. The Goal curriculum is based on five training modules that provide with the confidence, knowledge and skills these girls need to be integral economic leaders in their families, communities and societies.

In Pakistan, Goal has been running since 2016 through its implementing partner, Right to Play, and has to date empowered over 11,000 girls. In 2019, the programme was expanded to include public schools in Islamabad. As at February 2020, Goal is actively running in 34 schools in Karachi and Islamabad.

Commenting on the ceremony Mr. Shazad Dada, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan said: “I am very proud of these girls who have graduated today through our Goal Employability module. There is massive hidden potential waiting to be unlocked for the youth, specifically girls, across the country. We hope to provide them with the right tools and knowledge that will enable them make informed choices as they move into adulthood, and to empower them to be more active economic participants in their communities. Through this initiative, we hope that these girls become trailblazers for the future generations to become independent and contribute to the Pakistan economy”.

Goal’s training curriculum is based on five modules: ‘Be Money Savvy’ focuses on financial education (how to save, invest and open a bank account); ‘Be Yourself’ imparts effective communication skills; ‘Be Healthy’ builds knowledge on health and hygiene; ‘Be Empowered’ teaches girls how to be confident, authentic and stand up for their rights; and ‘Be Independent’ focuses on providing vocational training to girls to enable them to be financially empowered.