The Bank’s educational project, Training Professionals Involved in Investment Projects Supported by Development Institutions, was launched by Vnesheconombank more than 5 years ago. The project aims to enhance the professional level of people who prepare and run innovative projects and develop young talents’ capabilities in investment management.

The Bank’s experts are fully involved in training events held under the project: conferences, hands-on workshops, trainings, business games, etc. Most events are held in different Russian regions. They are attended by business and public organisations, independent experts and young people that come to enrich their knowledge on the preparation and implementation of investment projects and test their new skills in hands-on exercises.

We monitor the project’s efficiency through questionnaire-based surveys held among the participants of training events run under the project. Their feedback helps us to improve the contents and organisation of the project’s programme on an ongoing basis.

In 2014, Vnesheconombank is planning to launch an online course on Investment in Development Projects as part of the Educational Project. This will render Vnesheconombank’s relations with regional partners more efficient, especially in geographically remote locations.

Vnesheconombank has been consistently paying special attention to relations with young people to enhance their level of instruction and financial and investment awareness. The Bank also implements projects to encourage research and exploration activities among the young.

Vnesheconombank has been holding themed competitions among university students, postgraduates, young researchers and businessmen on a regular basis. 2013 saw 2 of these competitions: the Best Innovation Project competition for young entrepreneurs organised by Vnesheconombank as part of Seliger 2013 forum, and a competition for student and postgraduate papers on economic and investment capabilities of the Southern Federal District.

Another equally important area of focus consists in ensuring the personnel continuity and passing the accumulated experience on to young talents. Vnesheconombank has been consistently arranging internships and traineeships for talented and promising students and graduates of financial and economic higher education institutions. In 2013, 63 students and 5 young professionals completed their internships and traineeships, respectively, in Vnesheconombank.

We are actively promoting new formats of activities with the young, including within the Youth Club of Vnesheconombank established in 2012. The Club is intended to be a permanent discussion venue where students and representatives of the expert community will share their experience and ideas.

For young talents from major Russian economic higher education institutions, participation in the Club’s activities is an opportunity to raise their professional level, but also a rare chance to contribute to finding non-standard solutions to hot-button social and economic issues of the country, including involvement of capabilities of development institutions.

To raise financial awareness of the young and maintain a young talent pool, Vnesheconombank Group’s entities widely practice internships and traineeships for graduate and postgraduate students of relevant higher education institutions that take place in their structural units. In 2013, the most active entities in this area included Bank BelVEB (that provided internships for 213 students of higher education institutions and 19 students of vocational schools) and Sviaz-Bank (that provided internships for 180 university students of higher education institutions). Internships and traineeships for young professionals were also arranged by RDIF, NCDC, Prominvestbank and VEB-Innovations Fund.

Awareness efforts applied by the Group’s entities are an important area of activities with the young. These initiatives are also implemented in cooperation with relevant major higher education institutions. They include regular theme-focused lectures by VEB-Innovations Fund held in the Banking Institute of the Higher School of Economics, and a lecture and a master class in 2013 on Success Drivers: How to Build a Business held by NCDC at Mashuk-2013 North Caucasian Youth Forum. SME Bank is equally active in dealing with the young in the scope of its participation in educational events for students and the faculty of higher education institutions and vocational schools across Russian regions. In 2013, SME Bank, jointly with the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, organised a Moscow-based applied research conference on Support to the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: International Experience and Russian Practices.

SME Bank and VEB-Innovations Fund, jointly with Vnesheconombank, are permanent participants of the All-Russia Seliger Youth Forum. For instance, in 2013, VEB-Innovations Fund supported the organisation of an expert session that was held during the forum and was attended by more than 100 young people from across various Russian regions. SME Bank organised a From Ideas to Success master class attended by 46 participants. VEB-Innovations Fund and SME Bank also co-organised Vnesheconombank’s competition for the best innovation project for young entrepreneurs that was held as part of the forum.