Standard Chartered Foundation and British Asian Trust Extend Collaboration to Empower Young Women Entrepreneurs

The Standard Chartered Foundation and the British Asian Trust are strengthening their alliance to further assist young women micro-entrepreneurs in developing sustainable livelihoods.

Through this continued collaboration, both organizations will introduce ‘Thriving Futures,’ a comprehensive three-year enterprise development initiative. This program will prioritize providing resources to high-potential youth microenterprises, focusing on enhancing their capabilities and ensuring their enduring sustainability.

The preceding program successfully empowered over 1,000 young women and men, enabling them to strengthen and maintain their agricultural enterprises. This was achieved through a focus on enterprise expansion, marketing strategies, quality control, and digital literacy training, which collectively contributed to an average increase of 25 percent in enterprise revenues.

Building upon the insights gained from the previous initiative, ‘Thriving Futures’ will deliver enhanced enterprise development and customized interventions to 900 microenterprise groups, with a specific focus on women-led ventures (90 percent). The aim is to foster growth and create a more robust and inclusive microenterprise environment across Sindh and Punjab. The British Asian Trust will execute the program in partnership with Kaarvan Crafts Foundation and Shirakat as implementing partners.