The Importance of Female Mentors | Under an African Lens

 For many young girls across Africa, the road to success and career opportunity fares quite differently to that of your average student in a first-world country. One key factor is that many of these young women have no one to model themselves after or inspire a belief in opportunity. Through the Dare to Dream project, and our women’s leadership programs, we’ve seen the absolute importance of female mentors for young girls. 

One of the biggest barriers to female empowerment around the world is a lack of strong female role models and mentors in the workplace. Now, more than ever we are noticing the importance of female mentors, especially in developing and third world countries. 

Studies have found that 67% percent of women value female mentorship as highly important for a successful career. Still, only 63% said to have actually had any formal mentorship throughout their career. 

When angling the lens towards Africa, there is still so much that needs to be done when it comes to female empowerment, especially in industry, technology, and agriculture. 

For young girls in developing communities, where infrastructure is already limited, women leadership programs and mentorship opportunities are few and far between. 

Mentorship programs allow young aspiring female leaders to gain perspective and understanding, whilst having someone to which they are accountable to. The key factor is that mentorship relationships need to be built with identifiable, local role models with which these young girls can relate. 

The Mentor Network that the Dare to Dream project has setup is all about connecting young high school girls with local role models. The key factors are to: 

• - To Support, Guide, and Educate young. 
• - To Build Self-Confidence, Life- and Leadership Skills. 

Some of the incredible women that the Dare to Dream Project have collaborated with include: 

• - Asnath Mahapa (First Black Female Commercial Airline Pilot) 
• - Naomi Karungi (Military Helicopter Pilot)
• - Dr. Ncumisa Jilata (Specialist Neurosurgeon)
• - Dr. Zama Katamzi (Space-Physics Researcher) 

Each in their own way, these women have used the success they had labored so hard for and given back to help empower other young girls to do the same. 

As Oprah Winfrey once said, a mentor is “someone who allows you to see the Hope inside yourself.” And that is what we need more of. 

Find out more about the importance of female mentors and the Dare to Dream project by visiting our website and see how you can support women’s leadership programs in Africa.