EIB Launches Mentorship Program for Women and Young Entrepreneurs
Ege İhracatçı Birlikleri, in cooperation with EMCC (European Mentoring & Coaching Council) and Binyaprak, has launched the EİB Export-Up Mentoring Program for women and young entrepreneurs new to export or seeking to enter export markets.
Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator Chairman of Ege İhracatçı Birlikleri, stated that under the program, women and young entrepreneurs will be able to meet with EİB Board members and receive support in achieving their personal and business goals.
"This collective intelligence system we have created through regular training and mentoring practices is one of the most important components that will enable our human resources to lead the transformation. To encourage young people and women to focus on export and undertake activities in this direction, we established the Young Exporters Council (GİK) in 2020. Nearly half of GİK members are women exporters.
We want to expand this representation ratio to the broader base. In the TİM Women's Council as well, the largest representation belongs to our women exporters from the Aegean region. One out of every three exporters comes from our women exporters from the Aegean region. The EİB Export-Up Mentoring Program, which will increase the export potential of the Aegean Region, has been designed to support and mobilize the experience of exporters in our region and women and young entrepreneurs beginning their international journeys.
Under the project scope, we aimed to support participants in better planning their career development, including field visits to companies and factories, and to create a program where mentors would learn by teaching. In the six-month program, mentee-mentor matching will be conducted taking into account expectations and CVs. Meetings, averaging six times corresponding to once a month, can be held both face-to-face and through electronic platforms."
Our objective is to achieve sustainable export growth
Eskinazi stated that mentors and mentees will conduct mid-term evaluations at two-month intervals and a final program meeting once, and added that a brief evaluation report will be prepared following the follow-up.
"What matters is demonstrating sustained effort in export, increasing the number of our companies engaged in continuous export, and ensuring our exporting companies maintain presence in their export markets. On one hand, we have challenging objectives ahead of us such as increasing our international presence and gaining competitive advantage in the global arena, and on the other hand, there is a constantly changing world. This is why we must always remain innovative, renew ourselves, and make investments first in people, then in processes and infrastructure. We are aware of how critical it is to channel human resources to the right tasks.
Turkey will achieve its export targets by increasing the number of women and young entrepreneurs. Actions that strengthen our stakeholders with whom we build the future together are also reflected in the discourse of a strong innovation process. We want to help young and women entrepreneurs develop their networks and raise awareness of the potential and resources they possess. Ultimately, our objective is to achieve sustainable export growth, which is the fundamental purpose of our Association."
For applications and participation requirements related to the program, please visit www.export-up.org. For any questions and requests, you can contact the coordination team at [email protected].
