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Sustainability
Transforming communities
We work with local partners to empower young people to learn, earn and grow through Futuremakers.

Empowering the next generation
We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to realise their potential. Yet globally, more than 282 million young people are not in education, training or employment.
Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is our global initiative to tackle inequality by promoting greater economic inclusion in our markets. Futuremakers supports disadvantaged young people aged 35 or below, especially girls and people with visual impairments, to learn new skills and improve their chances of getting a job or starting their own business.

Over USD78 million raised for young people
We set out to fundraise and donate USD50 million for Futuremakers between 2019 and 2023 to empower the next generation to learn, earn and grow. In response to COVID-19, we committed a further USD25 million to Futuremakers to support economic recovery for young people impacted by the pandemic.
We’ve achieved the USD75 million target set for 2023 one year early, with additional donations made during the pandemic. In 2022, we fundraised USD14.7 million for Futuremakers including Group donations, bringing the total fundraised from 2019 to 2022 to USD78.7 million.
Funds raised go to the Standard Chartered Foundation, NGO and charity partners to deliver Futuremakers projects.
Hear from our young female entrepreneurs
Naom’s story
How can we embrace equity and lift the participation of women in business?
Audrey’s story
What role can technology play in lifting the participation of women in business?
About Futuremakers
In 2022, Futuremakers reached more than 335,000 young people. We are committed to promoting economic inclusion and empowering the next generation to learn, earn and grow.
Meet the Futuremakers
Read about the stories of young people reaching their potential in the learn, earn, and grow journey.
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An entrepreneurship project for women in fintech has inspired female entrepreneur Son Bo-nam to start an innovat…

The Forum
The Futuremakers Forum brings stakeholders together to build partnerships and create opportunities focused on young people. Hosted in partnership with Business Fights Poverty, this virtual event forms part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, a global initiative to tackle inequality by championing greater economic inclusion for young people.

The challenge
A global and collective effort is needed to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 8 to promote decent work and economic growth. The COVID-19 pandemic; climate change; and conflict each exacerbate the problems of inequality and changes to the labour market have had a disproportionate impact on marginalised groups within our communities especially young people, women and people with disabilities.
It is now more imperative than ever for all sectors to come together, listen to young people and those most affected, and identify solutions to support the next generation to thrive.

Access to finance
The 2022 Futuremakers Forum was held virtually between 6 – 7 July ahead of the United Nations’ World Youth Skills Day on 15 July 2022. The focus for the forum was ‘Lifting participation through financial inclusion.’
This year, we put young people in the driving seat – together we will determine the financial products and services young people want and need in order to unleash their full potential.
Through thought leading research, we deepened our understanding of how to unleash the full potential of young people and micro businesses in our core markets to improve the lives of millions of people and their communities.
Transforming lives
Between 2019 and 2022, Futuremakers reached more than one million young people across 43 markets, 74 per cent of them young women

Understanding our theory of change
The Futuremakers’ theory of change explains three interlinked ‘pathways’ that offer young people opportunities to become more economically active. This provides a framework against which to measure the success of the programmes, and the wider initiative.
Our partnerships
We partner with non-governmental organisations to implement Futuremakers programmes across 43 markets
Challenges Worldwide supports small and growing businesses to grow and develop
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises
Sightsavers works in more than 30 countries in Africa and Asia to address avoidable blindness
Plan International works with girls and boys in some of the world’s poorest communities
Women Win have impacted the lives of over 4 million adolescent girls
Youth Business International is the global network for organisations supporting youth entrepreneurship
Voluntary Services Overseas is an international development agency
Every year SOS Children’s Villages supports over 1 million people worldwide
Supporting communities through volunteering
Volunteering has a positive impact on our communities, employees and our broader business. That’s why we offer every employee three days paid leave to volunteer.

Our employee contribution
Volunteering provides an opportunity for our staff to share their time, skills and expertise with local partners working on issues that matter in their communities. It is also a great way to promote the mental and physical health of our employees.
In 2022, 39 per cent of our employees contributed more than 49,000 days of volunteering; over 80 per cent of these days were dedicated to Futuremakers, environment and community outreach.

What’s next?
In 2023, we’re running global employee volunteering campaigns to drive greater participation.
Through collaboration with strategic partners of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, our global initiative to tackle inequality and promote economic inclusion, we will enrich our skills-based activities to deepen our support to the community.
We will also conduct an impact study to help shape the 2024 employee volunteering strategy.
Meet our employee volunteers
Skills for good
John’s story
“Tech” it forward
Arthur’s story
Horses to CVs
Jessica’s story
The power of mentors
JungMi’s story