Efe Olokpa manages our gold-accredited Mentoring Women in Business programme. For National Mentoring Day 2023, she’s sharing her insights into the power of mentoring.  

I’ve always believed in the value of mentoring and its ability to ignite professional and personal development in both mentees and mentors. In my role at the Foundation, I’ve seen this exemplified through countless successful mentoring pairs who’ve come away from the programme feeling energised and inspired. 

Mentoring serves as a massive source of support and direction, as evidenced by the results I’ve witnessed through the programme. I’ve seen mentees acquire a treasure trove of knowledge, abilities, self-assurance, and valuable connections. Simultaneously, mentors also gain unique benefits. This highlights how mentoring, when done right, is a mutually transformative experience where all participants benefit and where shared learning is the ultimate reward. 

One pair that comes to mind is a bakery entrepreneur from Kenya named Esther Gathage and her mentor, Jennifer Thompson, an IT Director at DHL in the United States. We paired them for a year of collaboration back in 2022 and both have found the partnership beneficial. They recently shared their experience with us.  

Esther said of her mentor: “She was able to give me a wide perspective. She opened up my mind into thinking globally. I’ve been applying the knowledge that I got into my business.”   

Jennifer told us: “My skills and my confidence has grown. Thanks to my mentee, the programme not only showed me that the skill sets that I have learned in my leadership can be passed on, but now she can pass it on.” 

We often get similar fantastic feedback from mentees and mentors alike who have found the programme valuable. In fact, of our mentees who graduated in 2022, 99% gained skills, 81% saw an improvement in their business performance and 77% increased their customers. These are massive wins for micro, small and medium sized enterprises.  

Meanwhile, 100% of their mentors acquired new knowledge or skills, 81% gained knowledge of a new culture, and 100% were either satisfied or very satisfied with their mentoring relationship. These are the sort of results that fill my team and I with pride. 

Mentees and mentors aren’t the only ones who benefit from the programme. Our corporate partners, like Bank of America, PayPal, DHL Express, Marsh McLennan and Salesforce, have seen brilliant results as well. They nominate members of their teams to serve as mentors to women entrepreneurs in low and middle income countries.  

Our partners tell us that this not only enables them to fulfil their commitments to creating sustainable and lasting impact for women, but also helps upskill their workforce in leadership and communication, boosts employee engagement and satisfaction, and helps show the world where their values lie. 

We’re always looking for new partners to come on board too, so we can reach even more women. I encourage you to take the opportunity of National Mentoring Day to learn more about how mentoring can support your company and team by becoming one of our partners. Hopefully we’ll be speaking to you soon about how you can invest in your team and contribute to global gender equality and economic growth while you’re at it!