Prime Capital Announces Scholarship Fund Encouraging Women to Work in Finance

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC announced Wednesday the Future of Finance Scholarship Fund, supporting academic scholarships for young women interested in pursuing careers in finance.

The scholarships, already awarded to their first two recipients, are designed to encourage young women to consider a career in financial services, says Terra McBride, Prime Capital’s chief marketing officer. McBride highlights the importance of starting with education in the quest to create a more diverse talent pool from which the industry can draw, with the scholarships available to current high school and college students.

“We started talking about the pool of people who are out there,” McBride says. “We certainly want the most talented people working for our firm, and we do believe that recruiting talent and diversity are not mutually exclusive endeavors.”

The lack of female representation in financial advisement continues, according to the Carson Group’s “2023 State of Women in Wealth Management Report.” Released in November 2023, the report stated that the financial services industry has not made significant progress in gender diversity since the CFP Board first started tracking data a decade ago. Women made up 23.7% of CFP professionals in 2023, just barely up from 23.3% in 2020, according to the CFP Board website.

To encourage women to enter financial services, the Future of Finance Scholarship currently provides $5,000 for the academic year. Beyond the scholarship, recipients may also receive additional support from Prime Capital in the future.

“We’ve talked about including the people who are scholarship recipients as candidates for the Prime Capital internship program,” says McBride. “This will provide the young women with mentorship and real-world experience within the financial advisory field.”

Addressing the eligibility criteria, McBride says there is a focus on academic excellence, but emphasizes the importance of dedication to community service and a commitment to expanding financial literacy. The scholarship, available nationwide, has an application deadline for May 31 and requires essay, recommendation letters, high school transcript, and other materials.

The initial recipients for the 2023 to 2024 academic year included “two fantastic recipients that we’re really excited to see what they do in the near future with all of their learnings.” McBride says they are still working out how many recipients there will be for the coming school year.

When asked about the timing of the program’s launch, McBride acknowledged the industry’s overdue need for increased diversity.

“We really recognize that we’re kind of behind in terms of increasing diversity as an industry,” she says. “We wanted to get this going as fast as possible, because we want to start addressing this immediately.”

Looking ahead, McBride says the long-term vision includes expanding the scholarship to people of color, especially women of color. The scholarship application is currently open for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, with outreach efforts including announcements at industry events and targeted outreach to colleges and universities.