Mentorship programme to help female professionals launched
Manama : A mentoring programme to help female professionals further their career was launched in the country yesterday. The non-profit programme organised by Reach Mentoring and Finmark Communications in association with Tamkeen will connect business mentors with female professionals.
The first-of-its-kind programme, launched at Seef, will connect mentors and mentees across sectors. Founded in 2013 by a group of professional women based in Dubai, this programme is committed to the support and development of female professionals in finance and related services.
Early in January, the organisers had a roundtable with Tamkeen, following which a partnership was signed.
‘’Bahrain needs this programme,’’ said Zahra Taher, the Managing Director of Finmark Communications. Those present during yesterday’s program included representatives from, National Bank of Bahrain, Zain, Deloitte, Citi Bank, Central Bank of Bahrain, Bahrain Islamic Bank, AXA Insurance and Trust Re. These firms have committed to be mentors for aspiring female professionals.
Racha Alkhawaja, a co-founder of Reach Mentoring who has mentored female professionals in the Middle East and the UK highlighted the difficulties women face in the workplace. “Some of my clients assumed I did not know what I was talking about because I’m a woman,’’ she said. But she said the Middle East has a better environment for female professionals.
In the four years since its launch, Reach Mentoring Programme, has mentored nearly 300 women mainly in Dubai and Lebanon.
The programme conducts a preliminary screening to match a mentor and mentee based on communication style, development objectives and personality traits.
The yearlong programme provides an online platform for the mentor and the mentee to learn and communicate. They would meet around 10 times a year. The progress would also be evaluated every three months.
The programme is set to begin in April, after a networking event between mentors and mentees next month. Sami Ahmed Aljamea, head of Operations for NBB said mentorship and motivation are important to help female professionals grow. ‘’It should be part of our nature,’’ he said.
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