Mowgli Mentoring has partnered with Safaricom to bring corporate mentoring into the organisation even as the telco looks to increase female representation within its management by 50 per cent in the next two years. The partnership, which blends in with Safaricom’s inclusivity and diversity objective, is set to empower women leaders across senior and middle management levels.
As per the partnership, Safaricom’s senior female leaders will be trained as 360 degree mentors before each being matched with two female mentees, sourced from the organisation’s pool of Future Leaders.
Each matched mentor-mentee pairing will be supported through a 6-months structured program to support the foundation setting for the relationship to continue throughout and beyond the program.
This investment in mentoring also supports Safaricom’s 100 per cent Human at Work initiative. The initiative seeks to create a workplace where employees enjoy a sense of balance between their personal and professional desires and are supported to unlock their potential.
“We aim to build a human centric and inclusive leadership culture in the organization that gives equal opportunities to all and supports our employees to be at their best. Our Women in Leadership program supports our goal of achieving diversity in leadership. In addition, it helps enhance capacity building for our women as we prepare the women leadership pipeline for the 50:50 senior management gender representation agenda by FY 2020,” said Mr Paul Kasimu Safaricom Director for Resources.
Over the past 10 years, Mowgli Mentoring has successfully built a case for 360 degree mentoring as a vital and cost effective tool of developing human capital to increase economic growth, drive social change, business performance for organizational development and personal fulfillment.
Mowgli Mentoring’s CEO Kathleen Bury shared her enthusiasm on the partnership and the program stating that “Over 70 per cent of Fortune 500 companies use mentoring as part of their talent and organizational development strategies. We’re thrilled to be kicking off our first mentoring project in Kenya with Safaricom, who is leading the way by creatively investing in embedding mentoring with their organisational culture and addressing two of its main objectives. The mentoring programs will nurture leadership and talent development, support succession planning and increase innovation, cohesion, knowledge/experience sharing through reverse mentoring, which ultimately drive productivity and performance. 360 degree mentoring provides the trusted space for this transformational professional and personal growth, and for many people, it is the difference between success and failure, promotion or staying stagnant, living the life they determine for themselves or the life others have planned for them.”
As a recognised leader in the field of mentoring, Mowgli Mentoring has facilitated over 100 mentoring programs across the Middle East, UK and Africa using their European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) accredited syllabus that provides a supportive framework for the development of both mentors and mentees.
The Safaricom Mentoring Programs will see Mowgli Mentoring train 15 female Safaricom leaders, who have the business and technical expertise and experience, in the skill and art of personal mentoring so that they develop as impactful mentors. These mentors will be capacity built and matched with two mentees over a period of a year, totalling 30 Future Leaders.
