What is a Mentor?
We call them teachers. Advisors, experts, even friends.
Mentors are often the first people we look to for valuable sources of information.
The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW) understands that financial stability is a slow process, but through mentorships, you can be a part of something very spectacular:
Empowering women to improve their own lives.
Overview:
Balancing both work and life’s challenges while building a business is tough; some would call it an art, yet it is something every woman entrepreneur has learned to manage. You have trained, practiced, learned the ropes and probably have taken a few hard knocks along the way to gain this knowledge. By sharing your wisdom with other women, you are providing guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modeling—paving the way for future generations of women entrepreneurs. Mentoring is the unique occasion to give something back, to guide, and to teach another.
Now you have the opportunity to empower women, both domestically and internationally by sharing your insight and guidance with women from Afghanistan and Rwanda, by. helping them grow their business and build their country and strengthening their country’s economy and social structure.
Make a difference- Be the change—be a mentor.
The PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® mentorship program is now in our 8th year and is considered one of the most important and exciting elements of the student’s education. Therefore, we ask each mentor to provide a one-year commitment to the 2014 student, along with a commitment to provide IEEW with 2014 quarterly progress reports.
Requirements:
Our program is based on the theory that a more economically sound country has a greater capacity for peace. Each student is matched with an American woman business owner of the same industry whom she will have the opportunity to support and assist as she participates in the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® Program. There are two main means of doing this.
- eMentorship—You will provide support, advice, and guidance to your mentee via email and/or Skype during her 10 week In-Country training. This is an informal method of providing them advice, insight, or merely boosting their morale! Once the students are chosen to attend the In-Country training, we will match each student with an American business owner here in the States of the same industry. An email of introduction will be sent to the two of you, and from there a new-found relationship will begin! During their training, the student is asked to communicate with you weekly and to give you updates on their studies and ask any questions they may have. The goal is to get them talking! If they are able to articulate what they’re learning, the better their chance of retaining the information. You, in return offer any advice or experience you have in that area based on your business experience.
- Mentorship Week—If your student is chosen for Leadership Development, she will come to live and work with you for one week in July. This is an especially exciting time because you finally meet! During this week, you will provide on-site training as well as in person guidance in managing a career, social responsibilities, and family life, which is a delicate balancing act as we all know. Before the Mentorship Week begins, we would like to ask that you be available for at least one conference call with IEEW prior to the women’s arrival.
Mentorship Timeline:
- January 2014: Students are matched with an eMentor of a similar industry
- January – July 2014: Mentors are able to build an online relationship prior to student’s arrival
- July 19-26, 2014: Students live and work with mentors during Mentorship Week
- July 28 & 29, 2014: At the end of July, Mentors are invited to attend the International Women’s Economic Summit and Student Graduation
- July 2014 – July 2015: Students and mentors maintain an on-line relationship assisting each other for a minimum of one year.
You, as a Mentor, will become a part of a unique network of women who hopefully become long-term business colleagues. It is our expectation that both student and mentor will benefit from this relationship and that it will continue long after the commitment of the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® Program is completed. We know of many women who have served as Mentors and still have on-going relationships with their mentees. This is just one of the many rewards!
If you are interested in this life changing opportunity, please complete the online application or contact Karel Ford @ 405-943-4474 or [email protected]