Standard Chartered celebrates Women in Tech Incubator Competition winners and 10-Year partnership anniversary with Zahn Innovation Center at City College of New York

A decade of partnership driving innovation and gender equality forward

Standard Chartered Americas (the “Bank”) and the Zahn Innovation Center (“Zahn Center”) at the City College of New York (“CCNY”) are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 Women in Tech (“WiT”) Incubator Competition and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their partnership. Over the past decade, this collaboration has empowered aspiring entrepreneurs and fostered innovation within the local community.

Two student-led ventures were selected as winners after a thorough evaluation by a panel of judges consisting of representatives from the Bank, the Bank’s client, and the Zahn Center. These students demonstrated exceptional vision, creativity, and potential for impact with their business concepts.

Easy Meets, a marketplace that simplifies planning hangouts and trips for groups or individuals, has won the top prize of USD15,000, while AutoTENS’s proposal to automate lower back pain relief has earned them USD5,000. Both teams are now ready to take the next step towards turning their ideas into successful businesses.

“We are honored to be recognized for our innovative venture,” said Marwh Alzandani of Easy Meets. “We’ve enjoyed our time at the Zahn Center, and this experience has not only validated our hard work but also provided invaluable mentorship, support, opportunities, and resources. We are incredibly grateful to the Zahn Center staff and Standard Chartered and look forward to leveraging this experience to create more positive change.”

This year’s competition not only marks a decade of fostering innovation, economic empowerment, and entrepreneurship among students but also highlights the remarkable growth and accomplishments of the program over the years in achieving gender equality.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of Easy Meets and AutoTENS and mark a decade of collaboration with the Zahn Center,” said Patricia Fuster, Standard Chartered Chief Information Officer for Europe and Americas and Chair of Americas’ Diversity and Inclusion Council. “Over the past ten years, our partnership with the Zahn Center has empowered over 1300 students to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions. As we celebrate this milestone, we remain committed to our shared mission of driving innovation and economic growth in our community.”

Kesia Hudson, Managing Director of Zahn Innovation Center’s Standard Chartered Women in Tech Program, echoed these sentiments, stating: “The WiT Incubator Competition and our longstanding partnership with Standard Chartered have been instrumental in fostering the entrepreneurial mindset among our students. We are excited to carry on supporting the upcoming generation of business leaders through collaborative initiatives.”

The WiT Incubator is among several programs under the Futuremakers initiative in the Americas. Other programs include partnerships with Upwardly Global, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, and Youth Business International. They all aim to empower the next generation by promoting greater economic inclusion.

About the Women in Tech Incubator at the Zahn Innovation Center

Formed in October 2014, the Standard Chartered Women in Tech Incubator program is an initiative that aims to support greater diversity in gender representation within the technology sector. The incubator program is a partnership with the Zahn Innovation Center at the City College of New York that provides support, guidance, and resources that early-stage women-led startups need to grow into successful businesses. This partnership has various levels of engagement and supports entrepreneurship among women across campus through:

• A mentorship network, including both Bank employees and local leaders in tech and government
• A Women in Entrepreneurship themed speaker series
• A newly renovated space housing the ‘Standard Chartered Technology Incubator for Women Entrepreneurs’ Resource Center
• Entrepreneurship courses and material to address entrepreneurship challenges

About The City College of New York

Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi (now Lightcast) puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.

About Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets and serving clients in a further 64. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.

Our history in the US dates back to 1902, and we are currently present in eight locations throughout the Americas. Our Americas franchise focuses on financial institutions and select corporations and plays a key role in facilitating trade and investment flows between the Americas and Asia, Africa, the UK and Europe and the Middle East.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

About Futuremakers by Standard Chartered

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered (Futuremakers) is Standard Chartered Bank’s global youth economic empowerment initiative to tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion in the Group’s markets. Futuremakers supports disadvantaged young people, especially women and people with disabilities, to learn, earn, and grow. By 2030, Futuremakers aims to create and sustain 140,000 jobs by enabling young entrepreneurs and job-seekers to achieve economic power and participation. www.sc.com/futuremakers

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