Standard Chartered launches its role as Global Girls Champion of new WOW Girls Festival with mentorship offering
on 12 Oct 2023
12 October 2023, London, UK — Standard Chartered, a leading international cross-border bank, has proudly launched its role of Global Girls Champion and sponsorship of the new WOW Girls Festival1 by presenting ten inspiring female mentors to support young people at the Festival’s inaugural event. The UK Festival started yesterday marking International Day of the Girl and runs through to International Women’s Day on 8 March next year. It aims to promote the power and potential of girls and non-binary young people, and is a force for change across society in how it sees girls, their potential and the opportunities it offers for their future, both in the UK and overseas.
The Festival kicked off with a day of live events including an interactive bus created with and for young people situated on London’s South Bank, speed mentoring on the London Eye, live talks for guests hosted at the National Theatre, the launch of four new Activity Packs for schools and the fourth annual WOW Young Leaders Directory. The initiative comes at a time when the Girls’ Futures Report 20222 found that girls’ confidence dips between the ages of 14 and 18 and does not recover significantly.
Claire Dixon, Standard Chartered’s Group Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, said, “Standard Chartered is delighted to be supporting this year’s WOW Girls Festival as the Global Girls Champion. Through our global Futuremakers initiative, we focus on tackling economic inequality and promoting inclusion for the next generation, particularly girls and young women, so this is an opportunity to leverage our global network and expertise in this area to celebrate young girls and their potential futures.”
The WOW Speed Mentoring on the London Eye offered 150 school students, aged 13-19 years old and from over 30 schools and community groups all over London, the opportunity to meet 150 highly influential and inspiring women, and non-binary people. Each student was paired with a mentor and they exchanged personal stories and experiences, dreams and ambitions as they soared in the Eye’s pods over the Capital in 15 minute rotating sessions.
The ten female employees carefully selected to represent Standard Chartered, celebrate varied backgrounds and career journeys, and play a pivotal role in demonstrating the value of diverse voices in shaping our working world and empowering the next generation.
The women mentors are volunteers from across the organisation. The cohort (see Notes to Editors for all mentors) includes Hoesna Mahmood, a Financial Markets Apprentice, who is learning while earning on the Bank’s groundbreaking Early Careers Apprenticeship programme. Additionally, Ana Chavez Alanis, the Bank’s Head Information Security Officer took part and shared her insights into over 15 years of professional experience in technology change and risk management, an area traditionally dominated by men. Another unique journey was shared by Ekaba Davies who studied to be an architect only to forge a successful 20 years career leading a number of business-critical projects and programmes across the Bank’s footprint in Africa and the UK.
Tracey McDermott, Standard Chartered’s Group Head, Conduct, Financial Crime and Compliance, was a keynote speaker at the launch and also volunteered to mentor and share her own remarkable story, coming from a working-class background in Yorkshire to become the first ever woman to lead the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s markets watchdog.
By sharing their unique perspectives, personal experiences, and expertise, these mentors were able to impart invaluable guidance and mentorship to the attendees.
Jude Kelly CBE, CEO and Founder of The WOW Foundation, said: “Young people have been at the heart of our work since I founded WOW in 2010 and I am so excited that for the first time ever we are offering them their very own WOW Festival. We know that girls are facing more pressures than ever before and we are so looking forward to meeting young people across the UK and finding out what matters to them, as we work together to make a gender equal world a reality for future generations.”
1 https://thewowfoundation.com/latest/introducing-the-wow-girls-festival
2 https://www.gdst.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GDST_The-Girls-Futures-Report-2022.pdf
— ENDS —
For further information please contact:
Claire Newell
Head of Communications for UK and Europe
Standard Chartered Bank
Tel: +44 (0)207 885 8857
Email: Claire.newell@sc.com
Notes to Editors
Standard Chartered Mentors:
1. Ana Chavez Alanis, Head, Information Security Risk Officer. Ana joined Standard Chartered 18 months ago in the CISRO team, looking after ICS risk for Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking (CCIB), EA and AME, and after a career break of 3.5 years that she used to spend more time with my children. Prior to this, she spent many years at KPMG working in Technology and Cyber risk in Mexico City, NYC and London.
2. Ekaba Davies, Managing Director, Head eDiscovery, Operations & Analytics within Standard Chartered Banks Specialist Investigations Function. Ekaba has over 20 years of experience leading a number of business-critical projects and programmes across Standard Chartered Bank’s footprint in Africa and the UK. Ekaba leads a team of data experts, project managers and forensic specialists to execute and oversee the data preservation, collection, processing, analysis, review, and production of material to support investigations, disputes and Regulatory disclosures.
3. Kirsty Garret, Managing Director, European Head of Investors Client Coverage. Kirsty is currently on the Client Coverage Global D&I council, having previously contributed to the D&I agenda as Co-Chair of the UK Gender Equality Network Committee, and as a member of the CCIB D&I council. Kirsty is on the Junior Talent Committee, overseeing early careers recruitment and development.
4. Simran Grewal, Innovation Coach – SC Ventures. Simran started her career in Transaction Banking (TB) on the International Graduate programme, deploying into a full-time career in TB Sales, and then later moved into SC Ventures. Simran is currently based in London working as an innovation coach supporting entrepreneurs in residence across the Bank to develop new ideas to help transform and accelerate the way we do business.
5. Natasha Kwakwa, Global Head of Global Impact. Natasha leads Standard Chartered’s approach to positive community impact. This includes Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, our global initiative to tackle inequality, managing the Standard Chartered Foundation, employee volunteering and measurement of the Group’s contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
6. Hoesna Mahmood, Apprentice, Financial Markets. Hoesna joined Standard Chartered in 2021 as a Financial Markets apprentice. Joining the Bank involved moving across the country and making London her home. Since joining the Bank, Hoesna rotated across six front office teams. Currently, she is working with the Structured Private Credits Sales team.
7. Tracey McDermott CBE, Group Head, Conduct, Financial Crime and Compliance. https://www.sc.com/en/people/tracey-mcdermott/.
8. Hind Naciri, Regional Head, Impact and Community Engagement, Europe. In 2004, Hind joined Standard Chartered. Here she has worked for almost two decades, combining her passion for strategic communications and programme design and delivery to create lasting change for young people, particularly those from economically disadvantaged communities, women and children.
9. Sibusiso Ndlovu, Associate Director in Metals and Mining Investment Banking. Sibu started her career with Standard Chartered more than five years ago on the International Graduate programme based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is now based in London working in the Metals and Mining Investment Banking team, which enables her to work on projects and transactions across different geographies. Sibu is passionate about D&I and the development of the African continent.
10. Oksana Pidkuyko, Managing Director, Standard Chartered Sales. In October 2020, Oksana established the Global Client Analytics team as a Financial Markets “ecosystem” to provide holistic advice across products and asset classes within Macro business focusing on innovative and bespoke analysis and situation-specific solutions for clients. Prior to joining Standard Chartered in 2010, Oksana was with BP Oil International as part of Structuring team within the Trading business.
The WOW Foundation
The WOW Foundation is a charity that believes a gender equal world is desirable, possible and urgently required. Through festivals, events and more, our global movement celebrates women, girls and non-binary people, taking a frank look at the obstacles they face and discussing solutions for change. Find out more here.
About Standard Chartered:
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 64. 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.
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