Skip to content
Germany

Standard Chartered launches Entrepreneurship Programme with Kiz In Germany to support entrepreneurs impacted by Covid-19

on 13 Apr 2021

April 13, 2021 – Today, Standard Chartered Foundation (SCF), launches a new digital project, delivered by KIZ Sinnova gGmbH Offenbach (KIZ), to support entrepreneurs in the Rhine-Main region, Hesse and across Germany. The project caters for young entrepreneurs and culminates in a special “Heroes of the Crisis” award presented to those who produce extraordinary, inspiring work. In addition, the project includes mentorship and training to support female entrepreneurs and visually impaired entrepreneurs.

The “Futuremakers Frauen Training” programme is designed to deliver entrepreneurial training and guidance to self-employed women on topics like financing, business models, business strategy and marketing as well as personal development skills. The free 20-week programme consists of digital modules and intensive training programmes plus mentoring. These skills will allow female entrepreneurs to thrive not only during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, but also beyond. At the same time, participants gain access to a nationwide community of female entrepreneurs.

Inspiring young entrepreneurs will be recognised as ’Heroes of the Crisis’ for their extraordinary work during the last year. The award is endowed with a grant valued at over 10,000 euros and includes prize money of 2,000 euros each provided by SCF and an individual coaching package which will be carried out by experts from the KIZ network. Representatives of KIZ and SCF will jointly select winners in the following four categories “female entrepreneur”, “social impact”, “visual impairment” and “adaptability”. The award ceremony will take place at an event towards the end of the year and will provide a great platform for the four winners to present themselves.

Funded by the Standard Chartered Foundation, the new programme is part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, a global initiative to tackle inequality by promoting economic inclusion for young people. The projects supported by the foundation promote greater economic inclusion of disadvantaged young people from low-income households, especially women and girls and people with visual impairments. SCF has partnered with Youth Business International (YBI), a global network organisation supporting small entrepreneurs in starting and growing businesses, in Africa, Asia and Europe. Together, they aim to help over 33,000 young people in six different countries to overcome and recover from the crisis. YBI supports ETIC in Japan, FATE Foundation in Nigeria, Habitat in Turkey, ICCO Uganda, KIZ in Germany and Young Africa Botswana. KIZ is a member of YBI since 2015.

The first collaboration between KIZ and SCF took place earlier this year as part of the cooperation between YBI and SCF to support young entrepreneurs affected by the economic impact of Covid-19. With the financial support of SCF, KIZ could provide successful digital formats such as the Soforthelfer.org Show or Lunch & Learn to entrepreneurs free of charge.

“We have noticed in recent months that particularly small and solo entrepreneurs are suffering greatly from the Covid-19 crisis. We have therefore been able to convert our entire crisis support offer to digital formats and are now in a position to provide important support work for entrepreneurs in need,” says Dirk Luenzer, Managing Director of Soforthelfer.org. “We are particularly proud of our new women’s programme Futuremakers Frauen Training, which enables us to place women as inspiring role models in the field of self-employment and to support and promote them in a very targeted manner,” Luenzer continues.

The programme is supported by volunteer employees from Standard Chartered’s team based in Frankfurt.

Heinz Hilger, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank AG, adds: “We are incredibly proud to launch this project as part of Futuremakers. Together, KIZ and Youth Business International are supporting young people in our communities hardest hit by the economic and social impact of Covid-19. We have a real opportunity to inspire, encourage and share our knowledge and expertise with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and with young entrepreneurs in Germany. We are looking forward to getting involved and seeing how their businesses develop over the next few months.”

– ENDS –

For further information:

Simon Kutner, Regional Head of Communications, Europe (Interim), Standard Chartered

+44 (0)7880 296 947, simon.kutner@sc.com

Christina Wiedemann, CW-PR Kommunikation

+49 172 6873371, c.wiedemann@cw-pr.de

Dunja Buchhaupt, KIZ SINNOVA Gesellschaft für soziale Innovationen gGmbH

dunjabuchhaupt@kiz.de

Notes to editor:

The “Futuremakers Frauen Training” programme starts on April 17, 2021. A large number of interested women have applied for the programme, from which around 25 female entrepreneurs will be selected. A second training is planned for autumn this year.

KIZ/Soforthelfer.org

Soforthelfer.org is a non-profit initiative of CSR partners, carried out by KIZ Sinnova gGmbH Offenbach in cooperation with KIZ PROWINA pro Wirtschaft und neue Arbeit GmbH and selected partner companies. KIZ has been an advisory expert for self-employed people in Germany since 1997. KIZ follows a holistic approach: not only the company, but above all the person is placed in the centre and individually advised. “First the people, then the numbers” is the motto that is lived out every day anew by our pool of advisors. KIZ is active throughout Germany and works with long-standing cooperation partners.

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 girls and people with visual impairments. Established in 2019 by Standard Chartered Bank, it is a registered charity in England and Wales.

The Foundation will be the lead partner in delivering Standard Chartered PLC’s philanthropic activities, including the Group’s global initiative to tackle inequality, Futuremakers by Standard Chartered. The aim of Futuremakers is to raise US$50 million between 2019 and 2023 (from fundraising and fund-matching by the Group) to empower the next generation to learn, earn and grow.

Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 60 of the world’s most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on TwitterLinkedInInstagram and Facebook.

Young Business International

Youth Business International (YBI) is a global network of expert organisations helping young people around the world to start, grow and sustain businesses, leveraging entrepreneurship to create decent work and drive inclusive economic growth, whilst transforming livelihoods and strengthening communities.  

 Our efforts are particularly focused on disadvantaged young people, equipping them to build the skills, confidence and connections they need to beat the odds and become successful business owners. By operating at the crossroads of business and social development, we support the entrepreneurs that are shaping the future, working to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time, and creating opportunities – not just for themselves but for us all. www.youthbusiness.org