In its eleventh year, Ayesa shares how Citi’s annual campaign demonstrates the ways more companies can leverage existing systems and platforms to drive positive social impact.
Investing in girls’ education is good for business. Our research shows that if every girl could learn through secondary school, it could add up to $30 trillion to the global economy. But to get millions of girls in school a lot needs to change. Through their e for education campaign, Malala Fund’s partner Citi is looking to drive substantial impact for students around the world.
The e for education campaign is an annual corporate fundraising initiative that generates support for a group of nonprofits that work to address childhood illiteracy and improve access to quality education. This year’s campaign ran from September 5 to October 31. During this time, Citi donates a portion of the proceeds traded on their electronic platforms. This was Malala Fund’s sixth year as a recipient.
Since launching in 2013, e for education has raised over $66 million to improve education outcomes for more than two million children around the world. To learn more about Citi’s impact, we spoke to Ayesa Latif, the Managing Director and Head of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Sales team for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at Citi. For the past seven years, she has served as the EMEA Sales lead for the e for education campaign. In our chat we asked Ayesa about the motivation behind the campaign, its impact on students and how the financial industry can best support women and girls.
McKinley Tretler: Citi’s e for education campaign has raised more than $66 million since it first launched in 2013. Can you tell us more about the origin of the campaign? How has the campaign evolved since it began?
Ayesa Latif: The Citi e for education campaign was created in 2013 born from an idea from our VP development program. The campaign originated in our FX business and has since expanded to our broader markets franchise. The campaign is focused on raising awareness and funds for education-focused non-profit organisations who tackle childhood illiteracy and improve access to quality education. We are proud to partner with Malala Fund through our campaign.
During the campaign, our business donates $1 for every $1million of foreign exchange traded by our clients electronically to 13 education focused non-profits globally. The campaign has grown tremendously over the past few years in line with our electronic FX business. The power of Citi’s local markets footprint and innovation in electronic product delivery has been a key driver of our FX business growth. Our non-profit partners have been chosen over the years to mirror our global footprint in local markets in order to give back to children in those local communities.
MT: There are many issues facing our world. Why did Citi choose to focus on education?
AL: Education is the great equaliser. Education equity and access to quality education leads to economic growth and social development. Over 250 million children are unable to read or write and 124 million children are out of school. These statistics are shocking and together we can do something about that. This is an important cause we can all get behind.
MT: Girls’ education is one of the best investment companies can make in our future. If every girl could learn through secondary school, it could add up to $30 trillion to the global economy. From your perspective, how can the financial industry contribute to a more equal future for women and girls?
AL: I think the financial industry needs to recognise the economic value that women bring as a key business differentiator. At Citi, we have robust business plans and accountability around hiring, promoting and retaining our female talent. We signed the U.K. Women in Finance Charter in 2017 where we set a goal that at least 30% of our Directors and Managing Directors in EMEA will be women by 2025. We were also one of the first banks to report publicly on our gender pay gap. We recognise there is work to be done to reduce the pay gap and are taking measures to address that.
Company culture is also very important. At Citi, we made it a priority to foster a culture of inclusion where the best people want to work, where people are promoted on their merits, where we value and demand respect for others and where opportunities to develop are widely available to all.
MT: When companies lead high-impact corporate social initiatives like this, how does Citi think about inspiring employees to engage deeper in the issues and take action?
AL: I think you would be surprised that it’s the other way around. When we are looking to attract top talent, often, prospective employees are asking us what we are doing as an organisation from a corporate social responsibility perspective. Banking and finance can sometimes have a reputation of being focused just on the bottom line. Times have changed and the new generation of talent coming into the workforce want more out of their employer and want to work for organisations that represent issues that are important for them. Through a campaign like this, we are showing there is a way you can be focused on production and delivery within a corporation while having a positive impact on society.
One of the unique aspects of this campaign is that it's organised and led by our market's employees. When I first became involved with the campaign, I didn’t know the first thing on how to lead a campaign, and certainly not one of this size. I had to develop new skill sets outside of my day job including how to manage non-profit partner relationships, controls and governance around the campaign, marketing and how to build support for the campaign internally and externally. It’s given me a different and unique ability to create impact and express my passion for helping underprivileged children get access to quality education all whilst still excelling at my job. It’s a great way of engaging and motivating your employees, attracting top talent and doing good for the world.
MT: Can you tell us about the impact the e for education campaign has had?
AL: Since 2013, we have donated over $66 million to help over two million students in 54,000 schools in 81 countries through Citi’s e for education campaign. We are proud of our positive impact on the lives of so many students.
MT: What advice would you give to young corporate leaders looking to drive social impact initiatives at their company?
AL: Be fearless and speak up. If there is something you are passionate about that you think can align to the values of the company you work for, then approach it with a business lens. Make the case for why a corporate social initiative makes sense for your business to get behind. It’s not always easy but you will be pleasantly surprised that a number of other people internally and across your client base and the industry may feel similar to you.
Citi’s e for education campaign has been extremely popular with our client base globally and is something the whole industry looks forward to and gets involved with every year.
