LONDON / MUMBAI (India CSR): Standard Chartered Foundation’s leadership strengthening and renewed global strategy are set to significantly expand access to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for underserved youth. By scaling programmes, partnerships, and financing solutions, the Foundation aims to bridge the growing youth employability gap and create sustainable livelihoods—particularly for young women facing systemic barriers. This strategic push is expected to drive large-scale impact, building on its track record of enabling over 100,000 jobs and improving hundreds of thousands of lives, while contributing to inclusive economic growth and long-term community resilience.
Tarakeshwar will lead Standard Chartered’s corporate philanthropy agenda and the Foundation’s global strategy, which addresses barriers to employability and entrepreneurship through the development of programmes, partnerships and financing solutions that unlock opportunities for young people. Drawing on over 20 years of experience including most recently as Deputy CEO, UBS Optimus Foundation, Tarakeshwar brings a wealth of experience to the role and will help expand the impact of the Foundation’s capital and resources globally.
Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Strategy and Talent Officer, Standard Chartered and Trustee, Standard Charted Foundation, said: “Today’s world has the largest generation of young people in history, making them a critical driver of future growth and stability. Yet globally, one in five young people are not in employment, education or training. Corporate philanthropy has a critical role to play in addressing this challenge and through the Foundation, we’ve to date enabled over 100,000 jobs, impacting over 700,000 lives. As we scale and leverage our role as a global ‘super-connector’ to deliver transformational outcomes across our markets, Nalini’s experience will be a catalyst for further impact.”
Commenting on her appointment, Nalini Tarakeshwar, said: “Standard Chartered is a powerful global bank and purpose-led brand. The Standard Chartered Foundation has already had a significant impact, enabling jobs for under-served young people, especially young women. We now have an opportunity to build on this success to achieve impact at scale, working with our networks across the business and others who are committed to this goal. I’m proud to join the Foundation at this unique juncture to unlock opportunities that will help young people shape their own futures and generate an outsized impact on communities and markets globally.”
Global youth unemployment increased to 12.4 per cent in 2025 (up from 12.3 per cent in 2024), with around 260 million young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) Women also continue to face systemic barriers largely driven by social norms and stereotypes, with data outlining that they are 24 per cent less likely than men to participate in the labour force.3 The Foundation aims to help address this by supporting young people to gain skills and sustainable employment, and entrepreneurs to build thriving microbusinesses.
(India CSR)
