As the first step of this initiative, we held a seminar for about 40 members of a university women’s soccer team. This is a pilot session and we aim to develop a comprehensive empowerment program especially tailored for female athletes to achieve financial independence.
We are delighted to announce that S.C.P. Japan has entered into a partnership with Nomura Holdings, Inc. for the year 2022. Leveraging S.C.P. Japan’s strength of “sports” and Nomura HD’s strength of “financial literacy, diversity, equity and inclusion promotion”, we aim to “create a better future where everyone can be who they truly are”.
As a part of this collaborative project, we conduct a pilot program, a seminar on “life planning and money” for female university athletes. Financial independence is one of the important factors for women to live and enjoy their lives. Learning how to build assets in accordance with a life plan from an early age will help women to become financially independent.
Background of Partnership
“Financial independence” is an important element in the process of “empowerment” of an individual. However, according to a survey of active athletes, about 90% have financial concerns, and 75% have no experience of investment and asset building. More than half of them state ‘not knowing where to start” as the reason (according to a 2022 survey by Mynavi Athlete Career) [*1].
In addition, in the 2022 report of the “Gender Gap Report” published annually by the World Economic Forum, Japan was ranked 116th out of 146 countries. Gender equality in “economics” and “politics” has been a much discussed issue every year, but in the 2022 report, the score in “economics” went down (World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report 2022) [*2]. Women, who can be more strongly affected by life events such as pregnancy and childbirth, might need to adopt more diverse working patterns and plan their asset building more carefully.
In order for women to be independent and empowered with more life options, it is important to build assets while making effective use of the financial system. S.C.P. Japan and Nomura HD will focus on the economic empowerment of young female athletes and create opportunities to learn about money.
*1 Survey on money for athletes: https://onl.bz/X5uU2Pc*
*2 Global Gender Gap Report: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2022.pdf
We held an online seminar on “life planning and money” for Juntendo University Women’s Football Team members!
On August 29th (Monday), as a kick-off for the project, an online seminar on “life planning and money” was held for Juntendo University football team members.
We were honored to welcome Ms. Eiko Otani, head of the Diversity & Inclusion Promotion Section, Nomura HD Sustainability Promotion Office, and Ms. Mari Iwazaki, also from the same section, as the speakers. The agenda was life planning and asset building for the next 20 years.
Students actively participated by answering questions using the voting function and writing their ideal life course on worksheets. Some were surprised to find that the life plan they envisioned would cost more than 100 million yen.
Some of the post-seminar comments read, “I realized the importance of money by calculating how much the life I want would cost in future.” and “I want to learn more about asset building, such as saving and investment, and I want to work hard so that I can make the ideal life course happen.” It was a great opportunity for the students to think about their future, with more practical approach.
From this pilot session, SCP Japan and Nomura HD will continue to develop an empowerment program for young women through sports.
・Comment from Nomura HD
“For women, it is very important to envision career and life plans from a young age and prepare for them, as this also leads to their financial independence. Financial literacy is crucial to live a fulfilling life and it is more so now than ever before. We would like to create an opportunity to introduce the subject first. Then it should lead to an environment where the knowledge is accessible for all.”
Click here to see the release from Nomura HD.
https://www.nomuraholdings.com/jp/news/nr/holdings/20220905/20220905.pdf
・Comment from Mr Shimasaki Yu, Coach, Juntendo University Women’s Football Team
“I think this empowerment program was a good opportunity for female student athletes to think about life after graduation, with more reality. There aren’t many chances like this, to think about financial independence and life plans despite its importance. The idea of financial literacy seemed fresh, too. I would like to make more effort to help students grow into adults who can tackle social issues such as the pension debate and gender gap. Thank you for giving us this precious opportunity.”