Recently, Saigon – Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) and Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) continue to implement and expand the 5th Young Leader program for the youth community at SOS children’s villages across Vietnam. The program will inspire and set wings for dreams, develop passion for football and improve life skills for children in difficult circumstances.

With the mission of “Connecting prosperity and setting wings for dreams”, recently, SHB Bank and MCFC have continued to implement the Young Leader 2021 program for 200 young leaders from 17 SOS children’s villages across the country. This is the 5th consecutive year since 2017 the program has been organized with the desire to help children develop leadership skills, life skills, confidence and understand how to use football as a useful tool for making positive impact for both themselves and the society.

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Young Leader 2021 program was implemented entirely on a digital platform by MCFC together with the official partner of MCFC in community activities (Official Cityzens Giving Partner) and SHB. During 1 week of study from February 21 to February 27 at 17 SOS Children’s Villages (Dien Bien, Viet Tri, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Dong Hoi, Hue, Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Pleiku, Nha Trang, Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre, Ca Mau), the coaches organized a series of online interactive sessions on community football, financial knowledge, leadership skills and especially budget planning skills. In addition, football practice sessions were organized to inspire young leaders and provide them with the know-how to use football as a tool for education and spirit uplifting. At the same time, they were instructed to access the MCFC’s electronic library around the world, easily connecting with fellow students from other countries to exchange, improving their skills, as well as serving periodic test.

Photo: The Young Leader 2021 program provided inspiration, confidence and set wings for dreams of young leaders in 17 SOS Children’s Villages of Vietnam.

After the training week, with the desire to bring the students exciting childhood memories and the opportunity to express themselves, the Young Leader program will hold a football festival on the occasion of International Children’s Day June 1 at 17 SOS Children’s Villages. Accordingly, students will be able to apply learning how to plan and manage their budgets in practice through directly organizing the festival. In addition, children will participate in the Young Leader Football Festival between SOS youth villages, helping them unleash their passion for the King sport, connecting with friends and practicing skills.

Official representative of MCFC in community activities – City Football Group Foundation Director, Mr. Tom Pitchon said about the meaning of the program: “The positive effects Young Leader program brings to the children of the SOS Vietnam Children’s Village really inspired us. Facing the impact of the epidemic, the program has rapidly renewed, adapted and applied online training to ensure epidemic prevention and control and expand the scale. Thanks to that, Young Leader program has been able to reach all regions, inspire hundreds of young people, join them with passion for sports and develop a lot of life skills. We wish to continue to work with SHB to improve the local youth knowledge through football ”.

Mr. Nguyen Van Le, General Director of SHB shared: “The mission of bringing good values to the community, especially contributing to the development of the young generation, has always been attached special importance to SHB in addition to business activities. This year, the main theme of the Young Leader program is to equip children with budget planning skills which is one of the important financial skills which Young Leaders need to have. The bank hopes that after the 2021 Young Leader training course, students will confidently apply knowledge into practice and continue to make different changes for the community. ”

Photo: SOS Young Leaders are equipped with life skills, leadership skills and financial knowledge in 1 week of online training with experts from Young Leader program.

MCFC is one of the major football brands of the Premier League and the world, with tens of millions of fans around the globe. Besides football exchange activities, the two parties have had a long-term cooperation in the field of issuing co-branded cards. These include international debit card “ManCity – SHB Visa Debit”, SHB international credit card SHB – “ManCity Visa Cashback” with the image of football stars on the product, easy to use anytime, anywhere all over the world with outstanding facilities.

After 5 years of successful implementation of Young Leader program, SHB and MCFC equipped the children with skills and confidence, helping them to develop their own strengths and qualities and to apply knowledge in their life flexibly. In the future, SHB will continue to accompany MCFC to nurture and set wings for dreams of young talents.