Yeoh (centre) and Vinals (left) sharing their professional journey with participants of Standard Chartered Malaysia’s Futuremakers programme. The dialogue session was moderated by Mak (right). — LOW BOON TAT/ The Star
When it comes to youth empowerment, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh believes that it does not matter what careers youths want as long as they have a decent job, are financially independent and happy.
“That’s why I’m shaping policies to equip them with life skills,” said Yeoh at a dialogue session hosted by Standard Chartered Malaysia at EQ Kuala Lumpur.
Her ministry’s initiative, the Skills for Life programme, is held every weekend to offer basic skills training such as electrical maintenance, vehicle and air- conditioning repairs, hair cutting, and cooking, to the community.
“The job that you have today, you might not have in five years’ time.
“So you have to constantly upgrade, upskill and prepare for the next role,” she said.
She added that her experience in law and event management had helped her become the politician she is today in terms of drawing up policies, how she performs and even punctuality.
The session was part of the bank’s Futuremakers programme – an effort by Standard Chartered to increase the marketability of youths by providing avenues to gain skills.
Yeoh was joined by Standard Chartered group chairman Jose Vinals.
They shared their professional journey and life experiences with participants.
Standard Chartered Malaysia’s chief executive officer Mak Joon Nien was the moderator.
Vinals reminded participants that they needed to be able to adapt to new situations as the world had become uncertain.
“You need to be ready to take on the jobs of the future,” he said.
Futuremakers is a global initiative aimed at tackling inequality and promoting greater economic inclusion for underserved youths below 35 to learn, earn and grow.
Closer to home, about 10,000 Malaysian youths have benefitted from Futuremakers between 2018 and 2023, with the bank spending RM6.7mil on the programme.
Initiatives that have been launched by Futuremakers include ‘Digital Entrepreneurs x Futuremakers’ that prepares the unemployed and underemployed graduates for jobs in the digital economy and ‘Young Futuremakers that supports young workers as well as technical vocational education and training (TVET) trainees.
There is also ‘Goal’, an award-winning global education programme for girls between the ages of 12 and 18.
Another useful programme is ‘Social Entrepreneurs Transformation, Innovation and Acceleration’ on capacity building and training for individuals to grow and support their businesses while maintaining profits.
Yeoh added that it was vital to invest in programmes that would propel youths forward.
“With the appropriate skills, our current generation will be better equipped to face myriad social issues, in addition to embracing the ever-changing landscape of working environments.
“Through these integrated programmes, we can collectively tackle the fight against youth unemployment and inspire the young people to leverage their strengths to achieve their passions,” she said.
Futuremakers has successfully reached almost a million youths globally through Standard Chartered’s targeted pillars of education, entrepreneurship and employability, said Vinals.
“As many of the bank’s key markets still struggle to gain access to meaningful opportunities and education, we strongly believe that by leveraging our global network and expertise, Standard Chartered is uniquely positioned to make a change in the lives of underserved youths.
“Malaysia has contributed tremendously to our long-term sustainability ambition to lift participation and I commend the nation’s direction in continuously supporting initiatives that empower and support youths in gaining financial inclusion and independence,” he added.
