Standard Chartered announces a £5,000 sponsorship to help support two events that provide young students with entrepreneurial experience.
Created and delivered by the Jersey College for Girls Foundation, the events form part of the LEAP programme, which develops business, project management and leadership skills by designing social enterprise projects to resolve key global issues.
The first LEAP workshop took place in Rwanda (pictured), Southeast Africa, this April, the only LEAP programme outside of Jersey to date. LEAP Rwanda was held at the prestigious Green Hills Academy in the capital of Kigali and welcomed 49 local female students from across the country to benefit from LEAP training and opportunities.
Over one week, students aged between 14 – 18 years old from seven schools developed projects ranging from promoting African girls in Formula One by racing electric cars, students teaching sign language in primary schools, to an app for rubbish collection and re-cycling. They pitched their projects to a ‘Dragons Den’ style panel to seek investment for their idea.
Henry Baye, CEO Jersey, Standard Chartered, said: “We are delighted and proud to sponsor the LEAP programme created by the Jersey College for Girls. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to realise their potential and these incredible workshops inspire the next generation to learn new skills and improve their chances of getting a job or starting their own business. I’m looking forward to the next LEAP event in the summer, in Jersey.”
This was the largest LEAP programme ever with the highest number of participants since the programme’s 2018 launch in Jersey. Twenty-one inspirational speakers and trainers, including company CEOs and business founders, volunteered their time to share knowledge and work with the pupils. The student designed projects received a total of 3,600,000 Rwandan Francs (circa £2,000) of funding.
The second LEAP workshop sponsored by the Bank takes place in Jersey in mid-July and will see a group of local young female students, from off and on the Island, take on the challenge of creating a social project.
Peter Le Masurier, Director of Internationalism and Business Development, Jersey College for Girls, said: “JCG Foundation would like to thank Standard Chartered Bank for its sponsorship of our LEAP programme, which in 2023 has become truly global with our first programme in Rwanda.”
Through Futuremakers, Standard Chartered’s initiative to tackle inequality by promoting greater economic inclusion, the Bank in Jersey has delivered other local programmes to support the next generation to make meaningful contributions to the world around them. In 2022, Standard Chartered Jersey launched a Health Citizens Programme, with local charity St John Ambulance Jersey, to help young people on the Island recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
