Project: Mentor Training for Business Coaches

Location: Rwanda

Client: BPN Rwanda

Years: 2023–2024

Country: Rwanda

Description

As BPN Rwanda looked to deepen the impact of its business coaching model and prepare for scale, it partnered with The Human Edge to build mentoring capacity among its coaches. This initiative focused on equipping experienced coaches with relational mentoring skills to enhance their support for entrepreneurs and to guide the next generation of business coaches. The programme added a reflective, trust-based layer to an already established coaching ecosystem.

Objectives

• Equip experienced BPN coaches with mentoring skills and practical tools to complement their coaching work
• Prepare senior coaches to mentor junior or incoming business coaches
• Help new coaches understand how to benefit from mentoring and apply it effectively within their practice
• Strengthen peer support, leadership culture, and community cohesion within the BPN network

Approach

The Human Edge delivered a virtual, light-touch mentor training programme including:

• Two Mentor Training sessions exploring the distinctions between coaching and mentoring and how to foster trust-based support
• One Mentee Preparation session for newer business coaches
• A Matching session to pair experienced mentors with junior mentees
• A Relationship-Building session to set expectations, build trust, and define working norms
• Follow-up support to sustain mentoring conversations and feedback loops

Impact

Mentor Skills & Confidence

• 92% felt confident in providing constructive feedback
• 92% felt confident in active listening
• 92% reported strong understanding of mentoring and their role
• 83% felt confident in enabling mentoring conversations
• 75% felt more open to showing vulnerability
• 65% reported increased self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses

Participant Reflection

Participants reported a stronger understanding of how mentoring differs from coaching, how to create reflective learning spaces and how to foster trust in peer relationships. The relational nature of the training deepened the culture of learning and leadership across the BPN coaching community.

Key Takeaways

• Coaching ≠ Mentoring: Distinguishing these practices helped participants recognise the relational power of mentoring beyond performance-based coaching.
• Peer development matters: Empowering experienced coaches to guide their peers strengthened cohesion and reflection in the ecosystem.
• Leadership is relational: Through mentoring, coaches not only taught others, they modelled openness, vulnerability and trust in action.