Foreword

We believe economic inclusion is key to creating more prosperous and sustainable communities.

Today, our world is home to the largest generation of young people in history. However, more than 280 million young people are not in education, training, of whom over 60% are in markets where we operate, and a majority (68%) are female.¹ Many with jobs fall short of their potential, with an estimated 14 per cent of young people living in working poverty.² We all need to play a role to help them overcome the critical barriers that limit their contribution and enable them to succeed.

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is our response. After five years, we’re proud to have played an important role in transforming the lives of young people for the better. Having exceeded our initial USD75 million fundraising target (reaching USD93.3 million by end 2023), we’re more focused than ever on unleashing the potential of the future workforce – and accelerating inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

From January 2019 to December 2023, we reached over two million young people through our Futuremakers initiative. We’re also helping progress towards gender equity, with women and girls making up 68 per cent of this total reach.

Over

2,100,000

young people reached

By the end of December 2023

68_^%

women and girls

68_^%

women and girls

Nearly 517,000 of the 2.1 million+ young people reached by the end October 2023 participated in intensive Futuremakers activities, and of those:

More than

72,000

^{young girls are more likely to pursue further education}

More than

135,000

^{young people improved their employment-related knowledge}

More than

39,000

^{young people secured employment}

More than

46,000

^{young people improved their business-related knowledge and skills}

Supported entrepreneurs
created more than

12,500 _^jobs

We’ve made significant progress in lifting economic participation, particularly with young women. Based on learnings from the first five years, we are refining our focus to create and sustain 140,000 jobs by the end of 2030.

We will do this by empowering 70,000 disadvantaged young women to gain skills and sustainable employment, and supporting entrepreneurs building microbusinesses to create 70,000 jobs for their communities.

I’d like to thank all our partners for their support over the years. With our joint continued efforts, we aim to improve the lives of many more young people over the next six years.

Tracey McDermott

Group Head, CFCC
Chair, Standard Chartered Foundation