Mentoring

The Mentoring Program

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a supportive learning relationship between an experienced leader who shares knowledge, skills and knowhow with another leader who is ready and willing to benefit from the exchange in order to enrich their professional journey. Mentoring involves listening with empathy, sharing experience (usually mutually), professional friendship, developing experience through reflection, and providing wisdom and encouragement, in order to support the mentee in achieving objectives agreed at the start of the mentoring process.

Mentoring at the Financial Alliance for Women

The Financial Alliance for Women’s Mentoring Program capitalizes on the deep expertise in our network by providing a platform for peer-to-peer sharing between experts, program managers, and members from different fields. It is built on the recognition that many of our members have developed unique expertise in what it takes to launch and scale women-centered strategies—and are eager to pass on their learnings to others. The program connects member experts from the Alliance (Mentors) with Alliance members (Mentees) working towards a specific objective, such as developing or enhancing new segments, or growing an under-developed aspect of their women-centered strategy (Mentees).

Applications for the 2nd Mentoring Cohort of 2023 will be open in June.

The Mentoring tracks

The objectives that mentors and mentees work towards fall into two main tracks: Women-focused customer programs, and internal diversity and inclusion (or D&I) initiatives.

Women’s Market Program (focused on strategies to win with women customers)

For institutions starting journeys to implement, develop and embed customer-facing women’s market programs or seeking to expand existing programs by diversifying financial products, increasing non-financial services, incorporating data-driven learnings, and more.

Diversity & Inclusion initiative (focused on strategies to build an inclusive workforce)

For institutions developing or implementing internally-facing gender D&! strategies, or growing a new under-developed aspect of existing D&I programs—building the pipeline of female employees into leadership positions, setting internal diversity targets, and more.

Benefits of the Mentoring Program:

Individual Mentees will:

Discuss and receive feedback on ideas and plans
Share pain points and get expert opinions
Learn from best practices
Strengthen connections and build network

“At the very beginning I was not sure if I had to differentiate the value propositions for micro and SMEs. I had a session with [my mentor]… to discuss how they were managing on their side…It gave me the idea that we and they were doing the same thing…so then I just fine-tuned my decision.”

Individual Mentors will:

Build new insights into strategies, initiatives and challenges
Develop new teaching skills and grow as a leader
Strengthen connections within the network
Gain an understanding of different cultures, markets, products and operating contexts

“…it helps you to grow as a person and it improves your network. Being a mentor gives you more confidence and it indirectly causes you to mature as a person…It increases your network basically and increases your opportunities.”

Mentee institutions will:

Benefit from the knowledge, skills and experience
Strengthen relationships with fellow Alliance member institutions
Build understanding and experience of market nuances in different operating environments
Develop an understanding of mentoring which they can transfer to their own environment

Mentor institutions will:

Strengthen relationships with Alliance member institutions
Build understanding and experience of market and cultural nuances of different operating environments
Develop mentoring skills in their own teams that can benefit their own management and implementation teams

Time commitment:

In order to maximize the benefits of the program, we ask that all Mentors and Mentees commit to:

Participate in a Program Orientation and Mentoring Training session at the beginning of the Program
Engage in six 60-90 minute mentoring sessions over a 6-month period
Participate in an end-of-program survey evaluation

For further information and to submit completed application forms, please contact:

Carine Fersan – info@financialallianceforwomen.org

What the Participants Say

“The Mentoring Program impacts directly on my work deliverables and appreciation of why I am in the Alliance.”