Erste banka is the Golden Sponsor of AIESEC and Youth Speak Forum

Zagreb, 5 April 2016 - Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d. (Erste banka) has signed a sponsorship agreement with the student association AIESEC Croatia to support the association's activities as a Golden Sponsor and the organization of Youth Speak Forum, a one-day conference organized by AIESEC Croatia. Youth Speak Forum, which brings together students from across Croatia, will be held on 29 April at Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb. The main theme of the conference is Entrepreneurship and Self-employment. As AIESEC has been cooperating with the UN in promoting Global Sustainable Development Goals since last year, the aim of the conference is to learn what young people want and can do, and what they think about the biggest global problems. Students who wish to participate in the conference may do so by applying at http://bit.ly/YouthSpeakForumZagreb.

"Since Erste banka is focused on the development of young people, and provides many opportunities to this population through its programmes, this cooperation is extremely important to us. The start of this cooperation is support to all young people in developing their human potentials. Youth Speak Forum is the only forum where the main focus is on developing action plans and steps rather than just talking about problems that surround us. The Forum produces specific outputs for ideas and action plans that will be collected and shared with our global network of 70,000 young people, alumni and other partners. Bringing together the business world and the students in an interactive way," says Aly Amr Aly Sina Tawfik, president of AIESEC Croatia.

"Generally we believe that it is necessary to connect the real sector with the faculties and educational institutions in general for economy to grow successfully. Through this kind of cooperation, young people are given the opportunity while they are still in university to see how things they learn for exams are applied in practice, while   companies are given the opportunity to get to know during internship their potential future employees. We at Erste banka believe that the new, young talents finishing university bring freshness to our operations which, combined with the experience and knowledge of our employees, contributes to successful operations. In the end, it should be pointed out that, as an association, AIESEC stimulates young people to change the world around themselves with their knowledge and ambition, which we thoroughly appreciate," pointed out Anita Markota Štriga, head of Retail Division of Erste bank.

Apart from supporting the international student association AIESEC, Erste banka also carries out other programmes aimed at students. In order to give students the opportunity to apply their acquired knowledge of economics and IT in a business environment, the bank launched two paid internship programmes: Dress Rehearsal and IT Lab. Students may apply to these programmes by 30 April and the internship takes place during three summer months, from 15 June to 15 September. The Dress Rehearsal programme is aimed at excellent students enrolled in the first year of graduate studies or the final year of undergraduate studies, majoring in economics in either Zagreb or Rijeka. Alongside training, the internship will include working with a mentor and being included in the regular operations of the bank's organizational units. IT Lab is aimed at students enrolled in technical faculties. Alongside internship at the bank, the programme also gives students the opportunity to further develop professionally through mentorship with experts and a training and workshop programme.

ABOUT AIESEC

AIESEC is an international student association that operates on 2.400 universities in 126 countries in the world and has over 70,000 active members. Every year the association carries out numerous 6- to 8-week programmes through which foreign students are given the opportunity to volunteer and work on solving local communities' specific problems. In Croatia, programmes are carried out in six towns – Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Varazdin and Zagreb – and they are related to three main themes: cultural understanding, empowerment of local communities and language education.