The Brightstar Group has launched a scheme to encourage young women into a career in the financial services industry.

The initiative also helps the business to drive its ongoing commitment to the Women in Finance Charter and further improves diversity and inclusion.

On 12 July, Sirius Property Finance, in partnership with MT finance, will host its inaugural Women into Finance Day, an initiative that will aim to provide an opportunity for young women to participate in a programme of events at the London-based brokerage and thus ‘into’ in the world of finance.

The scheme builds on the success of the Brightstar Group’s Young Learners Programme. Its architects and programme facilitators, Clare Jupp and Leoni Alexandrou, have entered into partnership with Debden High School in Essex and will be hosting a group of 12 sixth form students who are interested in pursuing a career in financial services.

The programme will provide opportunities for these young women to spend time in a variety of different areas in the business including time with brokers, case managers, the marketing/design and relationship team as well as time with the operations and finance functions of the business. They will also be invited to apply for a fictional job role and be interviewed by managers in the business who will provide feedback to the students.

Sirius Property Finance has also already enjoyed success with its Academy and Young Learners Programme, championing the route from case manager to broker via its in-house training and CeMAP Programme. It also suppors and nurtures what it describes as its ‘youth team’, preparing these young people for roles in the business for the future.

Alexandrou, head of operations at Sirius Property Finance, said: “I am so excited to be welcoming these young women into the business to hopefully provide some inspiration for them to join this fantastic industry. We already have shining examples of young people who have come to Sirius for work experience placements, some of whom have gone onto take full time roles with us.

“We are so proud of our youth team and what they have achieved and we believe that they service as fantastic role models to other young people looking to join our business and the industry.”

Jupp, group director of people development at Brightstar, added: “This extension to our already hugely successful programme demonstrates that at the Brightstar Group we are taking real action to both improve the representation of women in financial services and to also build the next generation of this industry.

“Opening the doors to the working office is the obvious way to give young people a real taste of what it means to work in this fantastic industry. These young women will be led in a variety of sessions by women of our business and also from MT Finance.

“We believe that these women have inspirational stories and journeys to share as well as knowledge and expertise. We believe that this is a winning strategy.”