DECODE is presently working with the MasterCard Foundation (MCF) to build its youth engagement strategy, and CEO Robert Barnard was invited to help train nine youth at the UNESCO World Youth Forum in Paris this week. The team of youth represented eight different countries in Africa and Haiti; all were selected by organizations that are funded by MCF, and all hold amazing talents and experiences to share.

One component of the training was panel preparation. Three members of the team – Rashidatu Iddisah (Ghana), Jason Lewis (Nigeria) and Coumba Mbodji (Senegal) – had the honour of presenting to the Forum on panels about education reform and social inclusion. They each had five minutes to impress.

(Notes from Robert sitting a brasserie on Avenue de la Motte-Picquet Paris while avoiding a pigeon that has flown in the front door.)

All youth were informed of the panel opportunity a few days ago, which worked to my advantage. They had a bit of prep before we sat down, but not much. The first thing I asked them to do was to deliver their presentation. First, it’s good practice and, second, it gave me a sense of content. Finally, it showcased their individual strengths. They all made some classic mistakes. Five minutes of fame forces people to try to pack too much in and it often sounds like a rapid-fire monotone list. They all forgot to mention the organisation they represent, but for each of them there was one bright spot to build on.

Coumba leaned forward and said in a crisp voice, eyes focused on me, “Youth don’t have any power.” Jason told a great story about a guy named Steve who, at 22, had tons of potential but struggled to achieve due to his underprivileged upbringing. Then Jason said “I am 20 and at the African Leadership Academy and now speaking at UNESCO in Paris. My parents could afford to send me to a good school. [Pause] I grew up in the same town as Steve.” Great story with a nice twist at the end. I encouraged Jason to think about how many Steves there are in Nigeria to add weight to his central theme – great kids from underprivileged backgrounds just don’t get a chance to thrive. Jason has also started a foundation to deal with this issue in Nigeria so that’s a great finish.

Finally Rashida. Quietest of the bunch. Trying to pack everything in as she sped through looking at her laptop screen for moral support. Then she said “We need to make education more accessible to rural kids.” Not a new message, I thought, but then the story: “As a part of Camfed I visited a village school in rural Ghana. After the first period was over I notice a group of tired looking children stroll into to school yard. ‘Why are they late?’ I asked. Turns out this group of kids had to walk four hours to school… each way! By the time they got to school they were tired and hungry and I am certain by the time they got home they were more so. They are spending twice the time walking to school as in school. 15km each way. We need more accessible education in Ghana.”

Twenty years ago I did media training with Lana Ersham who was trained all senior executives at McDonald’s. She always said, “Message, story, message. Or message fact message. If you are really good you can go for message story fact message.”

Coumba, Jason and Rashidatu are really good.

(Robert Barnard)

There is undoubtedly vast wealth in the Middle East at the moment, particularly in oil rich nations such as the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In addition to this the Middle East is building a vibrant social media network; the UAE for example is now in the top 10 for Facebook usage with over 45% of its citizens registered on the site. Combine this with the boom in young people (now at 100 million 15-29 year olds) and it is hard to see why all banks are not doing more in the way of social media to attract young consumers in the Middle East.

Western banks have already reaped the rewards of social media amongst Generation Y in their native territories. The Mobank has used their Facebook page to create an online neighbourhood and build up customer/bank relations; Bank of America are using Twitter to respond to questions consistently being asked and the 1st Mariner Bank used various social media platforms to research customer needs ands opinions. Western banks have also used social media platforms as a means to market and promote their products as well as build trust with their customers; Nicolet National Bank’s President recently answered questions on an online blog. The opportunities and their rewards are evidently clear and achievable, so what makes their operations in the Middle East so different?

Young people in the Middle East are much more inclined to invest their money in Islamic banks than the large institutions we are familiar with over here as Islamic banks offer sharia banking on a company-wide scale. In the last year Islamic banks have began to target young consumers in the hope that attracting them early can secure a customer for life. It has proved fruitful as well, the top three choices with teens in the UAE were all Islamic and made up nearly 70% of the total vote; Dubai Islamic Bank ran out leaders with 34% followed by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank 28% and The National Bank of Abu Dhabi with 7%. It is the same story in terms of awareness, local or Islamic Banks are much more known amongst Gen Y customers and as such are much more likely to attract business. Its a similar story in Saudi Arabia although HSBC and Citibank’s divisions were in the top 4 in terms of awareness. The problem may also lie in the fact that customers acknowledge that Western banks offer sharia accounts, but these standards are not enforced on an organisation-wide scale; this provides a grey moral area for strict Muslims.

So how can Western banks compete with such clear preference among Gen Y consumers? With no banks having a particularly strong presence on social media, it seems that here is the Western banks opportunity to attract younger customers. Yet they too are largely anonymous on social media. HSBC Amanah has no twitter account, little YouTube exposure and no Facebook page. The same can be said for others, including the Saudi American Bank.

The business for the Islamic banks is booming, there is a huge market of 15-30 year olds, they are interested in banking and they are using financial services and it is an age-group that’s more valuable than banks currently recognise. Social Networking has reached over 80% of the population in many countries; this therefore seems like a prime route in for struggling Western banks.

However, there are problems. As HSBC have reported, banks need to come up with a social media strategy and, before that a social media rule book. These are factors banks have not faced before and they are trying to adapt fast. There are strict compliance laws that prevent a bank from publicly disclosing customer relations. The first to solve these problems could be on to a Gen Y customer windfall.