Standard Chartered Foundation

About Standard Chartered Foundation

The Standard Chartered Foundation is a charitable foundation that tackles inequality by promoting greater economic inclusion for disadvantaged young people from low-income households, particularly women and girls and people with visual impairments. Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is the Bank’s global youth economic empowerment initiative to provide skills development opportunities to boost employability and business training to encourage entrepreneurship.

Our partnership with Standard Chartered Foundation

Our partnership with Standard Chartered spans several initiatives:

Supporting displaced Ukranians in Poland

YBI and is working with member Youth Business Poland on BEST (Business Employability Skills Training), a career readiness and entrepreneurship project, part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, the Bank’s global initiative to tackle inequality by promoting economic inclusion for disadvantaged people across the Bank’s markets. BEST by Futuremakers launched in June 2022 and has reached 11 000 participants in its first phase. It has been extended until the end of June 2024. The project provides professional and business development support through incubation programmes, advanced webinars, and advisory services. Building on the emergency support provided in the first phase of the project, the second phase provides more tailored, targeted solutions for young entrepreneurs who have established their business in Poland and are looking to continue its sustainable growth.

A new revolving fund for female entrepreneurs in Kenya

Standard Chartered Foundation is supporting Youth Business International and its member Somo with a US$490,000 grant to pilot a unique financial product and set of business services for underserved female entrepreneurs in Kenya. This unique programme supports low-income entrepreneurs aged 18-35 from marginalised communities in Kenya, providing access to financial support needed to sustain and grow their businesses. It targets 90% female entrepreneurs and 10% entrepreneurs with a majority female workforce. Special emphasis is placed on providing services that acknowledge and are designed specifically to address the time constraints of women while they balance supporting their family and providing for their family.

2022 – 2024: Tackling economic inequality

This two-year initiative supported over 15,000 young entrepreneurs in Africa, Asia and Europe to start or strengthen a business and create over 8,000 new jobs.

Through intensive interventions, including training and mentoring, the initiative supported over 10,000 young female entrepreneurs and over 2,000 young entrepreneurs with disabilities, contributing to a more diverse and inclusive global entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The initiative was implemented by our members Cordaid Uganda, ETIC (Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities) (Japan), FATE Foundation (Nigeria), Habitat Derneği (Türkiye), KIZ SINNOVA gGmbH (Germany), Mebala Youth Studios (Botswana), Startup Vietnam Foundation, and YCAB Foundation (Indonesia).