The HSBC Malta Foundation has renewed its long-standing partnership with the JA Malta Foundation – formerly known as Young Enterprise Malta – with a new three-year agreement worth €150,000 to support entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability education among Maltese youth.

Under the agreement, HSBC will invest €50,000 annually to back JA Malta’s educational programmes designed to empower young people with the skills, confidence, and ethical grounding to thrive in a rapidly changing economy.

The collaboration focuses on flagship initiatives such as the Company Programme, which enables secondary students to create and manage their own mini-enterprises, and the StartUp Programme, which helps university students develop and launch real-world business ideas. Both programmes integrate hands-on entrepreneurship with sustainability principles.

As part of this renewed partnership, HSBC Malta Foundation is also introducing two new national awards to highlight sustainable innovation. The HSBC Green Entrepreneurship Award will celebrate eco-conscious business ideas from post-secondary students, while the HSBC ESG Sustainability Award will honour university-level teams that embed environmental, social, and governance principles into their business models. Winners in the latter category will also be eligible for up to €10,000 in seed funding to develop their ventures beyond the programme.

The partnership will further support the JA Malta Centre of Excellence, a government-backed initiative aimed at embedding entrepreneurship and financial literacy in Malta’s education system. The Centre, developed in collaboration with the Ministry for Education and the University of Malta, will train educators to integrate financial and entrepreneurial education into school curricula.

Matthew Caruana, CEO of JA Malta Foundation, described the agreement as “an exciting new chapter,” adding: “HSBC Malta Foundation has been a key partner for decades. This is about shaping responsible leaders who understand the value of sustainability from the very beginning.”

Geoffrey Fichte, CEO of HSBC Bank Malta and Chairman of HSBC Malta Foundation, said the partnership underlines the bank’s long-term commitment to youth and sustainability. “These programmes help students blend innovation, responsibility, and leadership. Sustainability is not a trend – it’s an essential part of how we move forward.”

The renewed collaboration continues a decades-long relationship between HSBC and JA Malta and reflects both organisations’ shared goal of nurturing future generations of responsible entrepreneurs.