DECEMBER News /

YES Mauritius Network Embarks on the 2nd phase of its Mentorship Program for Young Entrepreneurs

Moonera Kalla, a 21-year old business owner and participant in the Mauritius Youth Entrepreneur Mentorship Program, says, “I wouldn’t have been able to market my finished product if not for my mentor.”  This laudatory statement clearly demonstrates the critical role that a professional mentor can play in forwarding the success of a young entrepreneur.

Understanding this importance, the Mentorship Program for Young Entrepreneurs was initiated in Mauritius in late 2003 under a grant from the Dutch government through the Youth Development Network (YDN).   The YES-Mauritius Network (YES-Mauritius), a network of seven NGOs each operating independently, is implementing the project.  The lead organization is Halley Movement, an established NGO working since 1989 with children and young people.

The mentorship program for young entrepreneurs is a new concept in Mauritius.  It began with the recruitment, training and pairing of 16 Mentors and Protégées and this year will grow to include 30 additional pairs.  YDN provided YES-Mauritius with the structure and manual for the program as well as carried out a training of the trainer workshop with project staff.  The team then embarked on the pairing process, providing each mentor with a protégée in more or less from the same sector with a probation period to ensure their compatibility. Once the relationship was established, both parties underwent training in such areas as effective communication, monitoring progress, and evaluating success, among others.  As this year one pilot comes to an end, YES-Mauritius will be hosting a learning workshop for both mentors and protégées to discuss the breakthroughs and constraints that occurred during their experience.  A network of mentors will also be officially launched at that meeting.

This program targets the private sector businesses and it focuses on improving small business practices and processes thus increasing the productivity of youth enterprises.   The mentors’ role in the project is to support the protégées in pursuing their entrepreneurial endeavors. From a more pragmatic stand point, mentors counsel their protégées in connection with market analysis, financial management, organizational management, marketing strategies, operations, etc.  Additionally, the government of Mauritius is partnering with the program by exploring ways of providing loans to the young entrepreneurs at low interest rates.

Already during the first year of the program, the protégées have increased their enterprises’ productivity and/or output, which translates to employing additional people in their business.

For example, with the expert advice of his mentor, Mr Sudesh Proag,  young entrepreneur Hemant Pudurath is now able to sell the pineapples he cultivates on the very same day that they are planted. He no longer needs to wait for the pineapples to reach maturity to put them up for sale. The reputation of his mentor and the high quality of the products has helped him to sell his products before they are even ripe. Mr. Pudurath’s success story is just one of the many to come out of this innovative program.  Undoubtedly, year two will serve to further the success that the program has demonstrated to date. 

For more information, please contact Mahendranath Busgopaul, YES-Mauritius Country Coordinator at: yesmauritius@halleymovement.org