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Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
The Mentoring Women in Business Programme was first launched in 2010, and the first year with Marsh and McLennan was in 2013. Still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Modification of scope: In 2015, the aim is to engage at least 30 additional colleagues
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
Female Entrepreneur Mentee location: China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Palestine, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates
Number of people impacted annually:
~40 colleagues and ~40 mentees
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Social ROI
- Performance evaluation/grades of participants
- Graduation rates of participants Increased wages of participants
- Partnerships developed
- Content training/modules and training offered
- Health and security of entrepreneurs’ businesses
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit on organization
Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
The Mentoring Women in Business Programme was first launched in 2010, and the first year with Marsh and McLennan was in 2013. Still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Modification of scope: In 2015, the aim is to engage at least 30 additional colleagues
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
Female Entrepreneur Mentee location: China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Palestine, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates
Number of people impacted annually:
~40 colleagues and ~40 mentees
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Social ROI
- Performance evaluation/grades of participants
- Graduation rates of participants Increased wages of participants
- Partnerships developed
- Content training/modules and training offered
- Health and security of entrepreneurs’ businesses
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit on organization
Cherie Blair Foundation for Women
Submitted by Marsh & McLennan Companies
Objective
To provide women with the skills, technology, networks and access to capital they need to become successful small and growing business owners.
Overview and Main Activities
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) have partnered to support female entrepreneurs in developing and emerging economies through online mentoring; helping to build their confidence, capability and access to capital.
The online mentoring platform has been developed in collaboration with Google and allows female entrepreneurs to work with mentors from around the world, to build their information and communications technology (ICT) and business skills, and expand their networks and enterprises over the course of a year.
MMC have supported the Foundation’s Mentoring Programme since 2013.
MMC collaborates with their talent teams by identifying mentor candidates. The Foundation matches the mid-to-senior level employees who serve as mentors with female entrepreneurs, and helps the pairs build mentoring relationships during the year they spend working together online.
The online mentoring programme is benefiting:
- International development and women’s economic empowerment: The results to date demonstrate that mentoring plays a pivotal role in supporting women entrepreneurs as they break down barriers that prevent them from growing their businesses. Evidence from MMC assessments indicate that the model, which makes mentoring, training, support and peer-to-peer learning accessible to women around the world, is providing critical support to bright and ambitious female entrepreneurs.
- Professional development opportunity for mentors: Mentoring provides a learning and growth opportunity for employees who serve as mentors. They benefit by expanding their horizons, building their leadership and business skills, revitalizing interest in their own careers and applying their skills in a new context. This can nurture new leaders within a company, serve as a retention and leadership-development tool, stimulate innovation and drive cultural awareness.
Since the Foundation launched its mentoring programme in 2010, it has matched over 1,200 female entrepreneurs with mentors. The programme has a global reach: mentees come from over 55 countries in Africa, Latin America, the
Middle East and Asia, including Brazil, China, Honduras, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, and Tanzania, and mentors come from over 45 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Israel, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Success Factors and Challenges
Most critical success factors:
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department support (the partnership is owned/managed by the CSR team)
- Human Resources department support, which helps identify candidates who have made exceptional contributions to the company and nominates them to participate in this skills-based volunteering/professional development opportunity
- Partner support from the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women
Main challenges:
- Funding/budget support
- Communicating about the opportunity
Replicability and Scalability
How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Very easy
How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Very easy
About the Organization
Website: www.mmc.com
Sector: Professional Services
Size (number of employees): 50,000 – 100,000
Headquarters: New York, United States
For Further Engagement
Contact name: Tara McTeague
Contact position: Program Manager
Email: [email protected]