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Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (“Standard Chartered Hong Kong”) and LIFTWOMEN® announced the launch of “SC WIN Now & Next Challenge”, a new initiative under Standard Chartered’s Women’s International Network (“SC WIN”). The programme will leverage SC WIN’s global network and resources, alongside LiftWomen®’s extensive experience and expertise in supporting women entrepreneurs, to offer 10 selected entrepreneurs an 8-week “LiftHER Global Accelerator Programme”. Five winners will be awarded a total of HKD 1 million in grants and professional training to support their business growth.

The launch event of the “SC WIN Now & Next Challenge” brought together prominent women entrepreneurs from the startup and business communities, celebrating the inaugural launch of the programme and learning about Standard Chartered’s enhanced support for SMEs which is to strengthen their financial capabilities and develop business skills for expansion. According to the research by “Women of Hong Kong”, SC WIN’s Hong Kong partner, women entrepreneurs generally face limited access to funding channels. SC WIN was established to provide comprehensive support to women entrepreneurs through three key pillars: delivering products tailored to various business development stages, creating platforms to connect markets, client communities, suppliers and entrepreneurs across different regions, and assisting SMEs in formulating development and expansion strategies.

As a new initiative under SC WIN, the “SC WIN Now & Next Challenge” targets women entrepreneurs who have successfully established their business models and are now poised for growth and market expansion. The programme is expected to attract over a hundred local women entrepreneurs to apply. Ten outstanding participants will be selected to join the 8-week LiftHER Global Accelerator Programme, where they will gain in-depth understanding of business operations and industry trends to refine their business strategies. The finalists will compete in a pitching challenge in late August for five awards.

Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong and Greater China & North Asia, Standard Chartered, said, “Standard Chartered Hong Kong is committed to supporting SMEs development. By collaborating with chambers and industry associations, we would help SMEs transform through digitalisation, cross-border expansion, and sustainability initiatives. To support women entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level, we launched SC WIN in Hong Kong in October 2023, offering a suite of lending solutions and networking events that enable them to connect for better business opportunities. The new addition of ‘SC WIN Now & Next Challenge’ will bring more benefits to the SMEs by providing them with better exposure and tools to strengthen their brand competitiveness and business skills to capture the upcoming growth opportunities which will inject new impetus into Hong Kong’s economic development.”