Standard Chartered is renewing its Uplifting Youth Programme in Ireland for a further two years.
The project was launched last year, in response to Covid-19, to support students in higher education impacted by the economic and social fall-out of the pandemic.
Over 80 people, aged 18-25, benefited from targeted support, learning new skills to strengthen and rebuild their businesses, including financial management, leadership, critical thinking, resilience and problem solving.
The programme was delivered by NGO Enactus Ireland and continues to be funded by the Standard Chartered Foundation. It is part of the Futuremakers by Standard Chartered global initiative to tackle inequality by promoting greater economic inclusion in the Bank's markets.
As before, a wide variety of support will be provided by the Enactus team and by volunteer employees, fully trained by Enactus, from Standard Chartered's Aviation Finance team, based in Dublin and Limerick.
Support includes targeted training and mentoring. Kieran Corr, CEO of Ireland at Standard Chartered, took part in the Enactus National Competition judging the young people’s project ideas.
Mr Corr said extending the programme is the right thing to do. "As a volunteer myself, I have seen firsthand the incredible impact it has on young people in our local communities, who continue to be among those hardest hit by the economic and social impact of Covid-19.
"The younger generation has so much potential and the team here are delighted to get involved once more, share their skills and knowledge, and help these young people to thrive."
Laura Dennehy, Enactus Ireland Country Manager, said the programme was a great success last year. "We are calling for third level students around Ireland, who are passionate about social change and want to take action, to join us and become Futuremakers. We know that our students are capable of creating change and addressing social inequalities and we can’t wait to see what they will do this year."
