HSBC announced they are providing a two-year $750,000 grant to nonprofit Virtual Enterprises International (VEI), enabling growth and support of their career-readiness and youth entrepreneurship program in middle and high schools across America. Through this grant, as well as direct participation from HSBC employees, VEI now has the resources to expand their program to 150 more U.S. schools over the next two years.
Teen participation in the labor force has steadily declined for the past 40 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, depriving this important group of soft business skills. VEI combats this with an in-school business simulation, assigning executive and management roles that help prepare teen youth for work experiences in the real world. This software isn’t limited to the U.S., as over 45 countries are participating in the simulation by transacting business with one another to form one of the largest virtual business communities in the world.
“HSBC is making it possible for us to teach thousands more students about business by running one themselves,” said VEI executive director Iris Blanc. “After they complete our program our students are equipped with leading-edge business experience that they can use in their college and business careers.”
With business and education struggling to prepare students for meaningful careers, the grant allows VEI to lay the groundwork for future project scaling. Key expansion areas for VEI’s program include the New York metro area, major Florida cities like Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, Chicago, and Detroit.
