RBC Young Leaders: Leading the way to a sustainable future

The youth of today will become the leaders of tomorrow, and in an ever-changing world, tomorrow’s leaders will need a specific set of skills to face the challenges of the future.

For the past 43 years, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has led the way in empowering youth with these skills through the RBC Young Leaders programme.

The Young Leaders programme has touched thousands of students aged 14-17 – among the generation known as Gen Z ­– engaging them in projects and debates on themes that have included environmental sustainability, bullying and leadership and the effects it could have on communities.

For the past four years, during the covid19 pandemic, the programme was on a hiatus, but this year, it has found new life.

A total of 66 students from 11 schools entered this year’s programme, with Manzanilla Secondary copping the top prize of a $100,000 towards starting and running its proposed project.

Naparima Girls’ High School took second place, winning $50,000, and St Stephen’s College came third, winning $25,000.

But the participants, whether top prize winners or not, gained something more than prize money and bragging rights. They learned skills such as project management, oral presentation and budgeting – all of which, said managing director of RBC Marc Jardine, will help them become not just young leaders, but national leaders with the ability to contribute to their schools, communities and to the country.

Teaching students 'how to fish'

Jardine said this year’s Young Leaders competition focused on developing and pitching proposals, based on this year’s theme – conserve, produce and enhance.

This year, the students were challenged to develop their own sustainable, community-based projects over a 13-week period, then pitch the project to a panel of judges from RBC and the Inter-American Development Bank.

They were provided with chaperones from RBC, who, along with their teachers, guided them through the process of developing the project, writing the proposals and delivering presentations to the judges.

“We had online working sessions on presentation skills, financial literacy, project management, environmental social governance, then the IDB came on with sustainability,” he said. “Those five points gave the kids a really good platform on how to look at these projects, create a project, understand its facets, the costs associated, how to manage the ongoing costs to make it an efficient and sustainable project.”

He added that pitching the project gave students the understanding of how to present and pitch projects to investors, not just in the competition but in a real-world situation of approaching banks for investments.

“The real key to corporate sponsorship is understanding what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it, how you are going to manage it and what you are going to report on,” Jardine said. “Because nobody wants to give a blank cheque to an open project.

“The details and the ability to present and how to pitch really teaches the students 'how to fish,' and how to make things happen separate and apart from this competition. It gives them a sort of view of the world.”

The students wowed the judges with their presentations. Senior corporate counsel Linel Pierre, who spoke on behalf of the judges at the closing ceremony held at Hilton Trinidad, Port of Spain on Monday, commended them for the way they tackled the subject matter.

“We were thoroughly impressed by the creativity, innovation and commitment to sustainability demonstrated by all the young leaders in this programme,” she said

“In particular, we appreciated how each project showcased a unique approach to the theme. The diversity of ideas presented not only highlighted the depth of understanding among the participants but also illustrated the potential for meaningful change within their communities.”

Several projects focused on recycling and food security. Others looked at enhancing their local environments and engaging with the community. All showed a commitment to creating a culture that respects the environment and prefers sustainable practices.

The opportunities are not limited to the students either. The schools themselves benefit from the lessons the students learn, to make their own proposals for sponsorships.

“Teaching the schools how to present, how to pitch an idea, how to package it and bring it forward is so much stronger than the idea itself. That points toward corporate sponsorship.”

The winning project

This year’s winners, Manzanilla Secondary School, designed a project proposal for the refurbishing and upgrading of the school's greenhouse. The project included facilities for rainwater collection and solar-power generation to make it as close to self-sustaining as possible.

At Manzanilla Secondary, students have a special love for agriculture. Teachers Ginger Lutchman-Bajuram, Antoinette Campbell-Roberts and Georgia Fleming said they decided to do a completely sustainable system that could address some problems they face.

“It’s a sustainability project where we look at food in our area,” said Ginger Lutchman-Bajuram “We had a greenhouse, but during covid19 it collapsed.

“Our area needs to get truck-borne water and we have a lot of power outages, so what we did was have a solar system designed for the greenhouse and rainwater-collection systems. It is supposed to operate completely independent of all resources on the compound.”

Lutchman-Bajuram said the programme also sought to teach children in the school and people in the community about agriculture and food. It especially taught the children about food, agriculture and business modules on how to sell and market food.

“Most students who do not attend school have issues with finances, so we tried to bridge that gap,” she said. “It is also designed (so that) each parent could learn how to do a small-scale version of the greenhouse at home.

“We are a community-based and a family-oriented school, so we are always looking forward to the next generation.”

Campbell-Roberts said the idea of the project came through collaboration between the teachers and the students, with the students even adding long-term solutions.

“The students thought of having facilities for wind turbines on the greenhouses,” she said.

Campbell-Roberts said the greatest challenge was co-ordinating with the teachers and students to complete the project, because they were all in different places for the holidays. Flemming told Business Day they relied heavily on digital communication, but still faced challenges with wifi and other connectivity issues.

“There were times when I was in the US and another teacher was in TT, then when I was in TT another teacher was in the US. It was ridiculous at times.”

However, the teachers said the students’ excitement levels were off the charts over the project idea. Lutchman-Bajuram said they were also able to learn from the mistakes the school had made with the old greenhouse, especially where materials were concerned.

“We tried to make the older greenhouse sustainable by using bamboo, but it was a horrible idea, as during covid19 we weren’t there to treat it. We aren’t going that route this time.”

Now that the project is done and the prize has been won, teachers estimate the project will be completed by the end of the second term in 2025.

The students were not the only young leaders in the room, Jardine too had entered the programme as a Fatima College student.

“I created a micro-farm while at Fatima,” he said. “I did it on an abandoned basketball court in the school.

“We had a great time. We supplied the school cafeteria with greens and basic short crops – cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes – things like that. It is something that people really do appreciate and adhere to. It is exciting and it's a chance for students to get together separate and apart from the school environment. They all look forward to it.”

Jardine: What you do has an impact

Jardine challenged the participants of this year’s Young Leaders competition to look at their environment and the world around them, and use that to choose their career paths.

“What you do has an impact on yourself, your family and your co-workers. So look at it from that perspective: what you want to achieve in life, how you are going to achieve it and how that achievement impacts the world around you.”

Treasurer of RBC Caribbean Banking Nichola Guy-Alexander, one of the judges, lauded the students’ ability to take on the challenge of climate change and said they demonstrated that each person, no matter what age, has the ability to drive change.

“In a world where environmental issues seem to be overwhelming, you have chosen to be part of the solution. I am certainly looking forward to seeing how the winning teams turn their dreams into realities.”

Creating leaders

RBC TT launched the Young Leaders programme in 1981, as an essay-writing competition to educate students about saving.

The programme eventually spread to Antigua, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent.

It became a leadership development initiative that focused on creating youths who would change the future.

By 2011 the Young Leaders programme had included 150,000 students across the five territories.

Now, Jardine said, while the programme has gained interest in all of RBC’s territories in the region, it may not go the same route as it did before. He said the bank is now beginning to format plans for the scope of the programme.

“I think a laser-focused approach will be better, because it was massive back then. We are still thinking of adding more schools. The feedback that we’ve got internally from our executives is that they would like to see this programme run through each of their regions, including Barbados, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos."