1 March 2024, acceptance of applications for the first open competition Smart Scholarship. Professionalism for students of secondary vocational education was launched by Center-invest Bank and the Education and Science of South Federal District Endowment Fund. The prize fund of the contest amounts to 3 million roubles.

The top 100 students will receive a scholarship in the amount of 30,000 roubles. Students of secondary vocational education aged from 16 to 22 years inclusive, studying full-time on budgetary and commercial basis can apply for the scholarship.

Selection of contest participants is performed in two stages. Within the framework of the first stage, from 1 until 31 March 2024, it is necessary to fill out the application form on the scholarship website, present one’s advancements in studies and science, and describe one’s business idea.

During the second stage, all participants who successfully passed the first stage of selection prepare a video presentation of themselves and their business project and post it on social media.

In 2024, the bank increased the capital of Education and Science of the Southern Federal District Endowment Fund up to 307 million roubles, making it the largest endowment fund in Southern Russia today.

The Smart Scholarship competition has been held for more than 20 years for students from leading universities in Southern Russia, and since this year it has been organised for students of secondary vocational education. Over many years of its history, more than 35,000 students from 22 leading universities of the Krasnodar Territory, Rostov and Volgograd Regions, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, and Republic of Adygea took part in the Endowment Fund’s contest.