A mentor is a person who has professional and life experience and who may voluntarily agree to help a mentee to develop specific skills, competencies, or goals. Mentors encourage and support mentees to make the most of their career or business. As a mentor, the role is to be a trusted confidante, helping mentees to make the most suited and informed choices.
Effective Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) mentorship should require:
- Setting expectations with participants on mentoring, coaching, and advisory distinctions
- Ensuring mentors can pivot between mentoring, coaching and advisory approaches
The ideal mentor is that person who, while investigating real problems, has a positive attitude towards the mentee; he/she does not have to challenge the new entrepreneurs, but rather bring out mentee’s skills, abilities and characteristics, resources useful for the solution of business problems. A good mentor is able to act positively also on new entrepreneurs’ self-esteem and to make grown self-confidence and managerial capabilities
Mentors’ skills
For this project, it is important to set a list of skills necessary for the mentors:
- Communication skills: mentors should be able to communicate with mentees with different personalities, use proactive listening, and emphasize on entrepreneurs, in order to advise, understand and help them develop potential skills.
- Knowledge on the new business: it is important for the mentors to know the events and the needs of the new entrepreneur, in order to provide the best possible advice.
- Entrepreneurial experience: mentors need to know well the current job market and have business experience.
Equally important for the mentors is to indicate a set of soft skills, such as empathy, active listening, encouragement, and patience. Producing positive effects means to strengthen the confidence in one’s abilities, as an indispensable condition for obtaining results positive in terms of managerial capacity building; for this, it is necessary to disseminate models of positive roles that represent a reference for the women entrepreneurs.
Mentors’ roles
Your role as a mentor is a mix of friend and teacher. Relationships developed with your mentees become channels for the transfer of information, advice, challenges, opportunities, and support, with the ultimate goals of facilitating achievement and having fun.
As a mentor, you may offer the following:
- Information
Mentors share their knowledge, experiences, and wisdom. - Contacts
Mentors provide valuable opportunities and contacts, thus contributing to the creation of mentees’ career path. - Challenges
Mentors stimulate curiosity and build confidence by presenting new ideas, opportunities, and challenges. - Support
Mentors encourage growth and achievement by providing an open and supportive environment. - Goal Setting
Mentors help mentees discover their talents and interests, define and attain their goals. - Advice
Mentors guide mentees in reaching their academic, career, and personal goals. - Role Models
By sharing stories of achievement with mentees, mentors can become role models.
As a mentor, you are a valuable resource to mentees. As a guide and counsellor, you ought to inspire and facilitate career and personal achievements. The developmental transitions faced by women in each of these areas are enriched by your experience, wisdom, and guidance.
