ABA recently has taken a new strategy for focusing on Youth Economic Empowerment, given that 30% of ABA active clients (around 75,000) are less than 30 years old. ABA has several initiatives, which include a grant programme, capacity building and product development for Youth Inclusive Financial Services. ABA partnered with Mowgli Foundation (now The Human Edge) to provide the Mowgli Mentoring Experience to ABA staff, which will lead to training all loan officers servicing youth to be a mentor! It is a very successful partnership where we have taken several milestones till date and will continue to gain more experience from Mowgli Foundation (now The Human Edge) through this flourishing partnership.

Stemming from a firm belief in the enriching impact of mentorship, INJAZ and Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge) joined forces to more efficiently achieve youth empowerment. This partnership has ensured the effective implementation of INJAZ programs through a stronger group of volunteers that is adept to mentor young Jordanians and inspire them to live up to their potential, whilst developing their own leadership skills, and ultimately acting as role models in their community.

We are proud to support the Mowgli Foundation (now The Human Edge) and their innovative approach to inspiring and empowering individuals to unlock their potential, all the while delivering a positive impact on the local economy, through jobs and increased economy. Our funding, towards the cost of places in a Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge) programme in Lebanon, will go towards providing local entrepreneurs more opportunities to develop and we maybe even find the next Anita Roddick through the skills developed through this programme!

In addition to [GCIC] providing the technical and advisory services that allow our entrepreneurs to elevate their entrepreneurial journey, our partnership with Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge) provides an additional mechanism to support our entrepreneurs to optimize their mindset for entrepreneurial success — and to become extraordinary.

Promoting women’s economic empowerment is critical for Jordan to achieve its goal of inclusive economic growth. Women need a holistic set of services to enter and remain in the market with their businesses. The mentorship approach can increase the chances for entrepreneurship initiatives to be successful and sustainable. This can also have a multiplier effect on the local economy at the Governorate level, as women are engaged not only as wage-earners but also as job-creators for other women in their communities.

We are also pleased with the cooperation with Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge) in this programme and its contribution towards creating a healthy and developmental environment for social entrepreneurship

We have organised, together with Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge) a regional mentoring workshop for selected high-growth start-ups. The programme, mixing mentors and mentees from several countries, has proven to be very enriching and useful for their international development.

Not only have we supported the creation of four new enterprises through our work with Mowgli Mentoring (now The Human Edge), we’ve enabled existing micro-businesses to grow and created new connections between the Jordanian and Syrians in our programme. This new understanding and these new relationships are resources that some of the Syrians’ businesses might someday profit from. What’s more, most of the mentees in the programme were women, and we are very happy to see more women founding, running, and succeeding in creating and growing businesses!

I was impressed with the impact that I saw with the programme. Many entrepreneurs had received support of some kind, for example training. This is often one-off and short term, attempting to work on a certain problem, but a mentoring relationship is beneficial in the long run. Creating jobs and businesses is vital to ensure that the talented youth in the region have prospects, and the FORSA programme gave young people the confidence they needed to take on commercial opportunities, to build and create jobs.

At EBRD we strongly believe personal development is as important for entrepreneurs as business skills, and mentoring is a powerful approach to supporting women in reaching their personal and business goals.

One key reason why blueMoon Ethiopia entrepreneurs secured investment at Lion’s Den (an event linking entrepreneurs with investors) is because of mentoring.