Manulife Financial : Indonesia and PSF School Development Outreach Launch Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme

Jakarta - Manulife Indonesia, through the Manulife Indonesia Care Foundation, and Putera Sampoerna Foundation School Development Outreach (PSF-SDO), today announced the launch of the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme in Banda Aceh.

The 12-month programme, aimed at improving the entrepreneurship and financial skills of teachers and students, will initially involve more than 25 teachers and students from high and vocational schools in Banda Aceh and will focus on activities such as entrepreneurship education workshops, business planning strategy sessions and presentation skills.

Indren Naidoo, President Director and CEO of Manulife Indonesia said: 'Entrepreneurship is the life-blood of a nation's economic growth. As one of the leading financial services companies in Indonesia, Manulife Indonesia believes it is important to cultivate entrepreneurship skills of the younger generation, in order for them to thrive and contribute to the economic growth. '

'Through this programme, participants will gain the necessary financial knowledge and skills that enable them to make sound financial decisions and pursue business opportunities that make sense. This programme is aligned with our CSR focus and commitment to supporting communities throughout Indonesia by investing in financial literacy education.'

'It's an honour for Putera Sampoerna Foundation to launch this important entreprenuership education programme in Indonesia in partnership with Manulife,' said Nenny Soemawinata, Managing Director, Putera Sampoerna Foundation. 'We are confident it will help teachers and students deepen their entrepreneurship skills as well as financial knowledge so that they are able to draw up simple and easy to implement business plans.'

Gusman Yahya, Head of PSF School Development Outreach, said: 'As a social business institution, Putera Sampoerna Foundation believes that teachers play an important role in producing the next high-caliber generation of students. Teachers are expected to share the knowledge and skills acquired during the training period with high school and vocational school students to help develop their entrepreneurship skills.'

Recent data from State Ministry of Cooperatives & SMEs revealed that only 1.6 percent of the entire Indonesian population are entrepreneurs. The percentage is far below those of other ASEAN countries like Singapore (7 percent), Thailand (3 percent) and Malaysia (5 percent).

About Manulife Indonesia
Established in 1985, PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (Manulife Indonesia) is part of Manulife Financial Corporation Group, a Canadian financial services group that operates in Asia, Canada and the United States. Manulife Indonesia offers a wide range of financial services, including life insurance, accident and health insurance, investment and pension plans to individual and group clients in Indonesia. Through a network of more than 10,000 employees and professional agents spread across 25 cities, Manulife Indonesia serves more than 2.2 million clients in Indonesia.

PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia is registered and supervised by the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK). To learn more about Manulife Indonesia, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.manulife-indonesia.com.

About Putera Sampoerna Foundation
Putera Sampoerna Foundation is the first social business institution in Indonesia with a vision to create quality future leaders and entrepreneurs in Indonesia, who will face global challenges and are expected to contribute to and make positive changes in their community. Putera Sampoerna Foundation believes that its vision can be achieved through providing quality education for students in Indonesia, creating work fields through entrepreneur development, civil enlightenment through woman empowerment, and humanitarian programs.

To maintain the sustainability of its social business standing, Putera Sampoerna Foundation acts as CSR operator that has been trusted by more than 300 corporations, organizations and associations to run corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Putera Sampoerna Foundation was awarded the ISO 9001: 2008, the international quality management system certificate. Periodically, Putera Sampoerna Foundation follows an audit conducted by independent international auditors and publishes the results in the annual report that can be accessed by the public on the Putera Sampoerna Foundation website. For more information, please visit: www.sampoernafoundation.org.

About Putera Sampoerna Foundation - School Development Outreach (PSF-SDO)
School Development Outreach (PSF-SDO) is an educational development service from Putera Sampoerna Foundation which dedicated to improve the quality of schools and teachers in Indonesia and forms an important part of the main strategy developed in 'Pathway to Leadership' and create globally competitive and socially responsible future leader. PSF-SDO has implemented a series of comprehensive and sustainability programs to improve teacher's competency, student character building, supporting school management, and proactively develop school communities and supporting by professional versed in education. The program including, Enhancing School Development through School Development Program, Enhancing Teacher's Professionalism and/or School Management Team through Professional Development Program, Enhancing Education Support through Education Support Program, Education Assessment and Consultancy. PSF-SDO has provided extensive training to more than 22.000 teachers, principals, and school management team. Contributing to improving quality of education in 568 schools and 25 madrasas, and 6 teacher learning center in several remote areas in Indonesia. For more information, please visit www.psfoutreach.com.

For further information, please contact:

Putri A. Sasongko
Public Relations and Publicity
Manager
Putera Sampoerna Foundation
Tel: (021) 577 2340 Fax: (021) 577 2341
mediaquaries@sampoernafoundation.org

Jeane Carolina
Head of Corporate Communications & PR
Manulife Indonesia
Tel: (021) 25557788 Fax: (021) 25552278
jeane_carolina@manulife.com