Standard Chartered Foundation, British Asian Trust renew partnership

KARACHI: Standard Chartered and The British Asian Trust have renewed their partnership, launching ‘Thriving Futures’, a three-year enterprise development programme aimed at supporting high-potential young microenterprises to build their capacity and achieve long-term sustainability, a statement said on Tuesday.

“The previous programme enabled us to empower over 1000 young women and men to boost and sustain their Agri-enterprises by focusing on enterprise growth, marketing, quality assurance, and digital literacy training, which helped to increase the enterprise revenues by 25 per cent on average,” the bank said.

Building on learnings from the past programme, ‘Thriving Futures’ will offer advanced enterprise development and tailored interventions to 900 microenterprise groups (90 per cent of which will be women-led) to become thriving and, in doing so, create a stronger, more inclusive microenterprise ecosystem in Sindh and Punjab, it added.

The British Asian Trust will deliver the programme in conjunction with two implementing partners -- Kaarvan Crafts Foundation and Shirakat.Pakistan Director of the British Asian Trust Kamyla Marvi said: “We are proud to continue our partnership with Standard Chartered Foundation through the launch of Thriving Futures. Having previously worked together to support entrepreneurs in agricultural settings, this new programme reflects our shared and continued commitment to creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for more women and youth-led enterprises across Sindh and Punjab.”

CEO and Head of Coverage, SC Pakistan Rehan Shaikh said, “This partnership reflects our dedication to supporting entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to succeed and thrive.”