2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

- 20 schools participated in the program in less than 5 months, in 2011 - Winning student won AED 10,000 cash grant, with the next two winning AED 5000 and AED 2500 respectively - all going towards their schooling fees. - As is evident from the competition entries, the initiative resulted in changing the perceptions of the school students and getting them all excited about taking on banking as a career. - Please see competition entries on the CD provided - Resounding success of the program has led to the program being extended into 2012, with even more newer schools being introduced into the program. As of date, 12 schools have been confirmed for Feb-April 2012

Creative Execution

We created the "Become a Banker for a Day" initiative. We identified 6 deserving Business students from Grades 11-13, per school, and brought them into an EmiratesNBD branch for a special day long program. Students were given the opportunity to undertake specifically designed roles within the bank - like Teller, Customer Representative, Processing Specialist, Business Manager, Relationship Manager and Business Centre Manager - helping them to gain hands-on experience on how a leading bank works, the various disciplines practiced within it, and the skills required to make the banking sector a rewarding future career choice for them. They were then invited to put down their impressions of Becoming a Banker for a Day as a competition entry and to upload it onto a microsite. The microsite hosted information related to the program along with competition uploads, while print and radio partners carried related stories to amplify the program's reach. Every quarter, the 3 best entries were awarded EmiratesNBD cash grants towards their schooling fees.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Emirates NBD, the leading retail banking franchise in the UAE, faced a "mental" hurdle in attracting fresh new talent to join the banking sector. This was due to negative sentiments resulting from the recession surrounding the banking industry. In Universities, more youth were opting not to study finance and exploring other degree options. Banks also carried the impression of being "boring" in the minds of the youth. Our challenge was to attract fresh talent in the UAE; to get young people excited about joining the banking sector, get them to realize that banking too can be a stimulating and challenging career option for them. What better way to do so than to make the students actually touch, feel and experience becoming a Banker for a day. Exposing them to the inner workings of a bank and most importantly, breaking down their perceptions while opening up their minds to a better future.