Mentorship advocated for future business leaders

Islamabad : Mentorship is critical to fostering the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs, said US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome.

He also appreciated the US-Pakistan Women’s Council’s Pakistan Million Women Mentors initiative for ‘helping encourage, inspire, and support future women entrepreneurs and leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in Pakistan.’

“Corporations in Pakistan and the United States have pledged to mentor more than 40,000 women so far, and we hope to continue growing this number. The S&P Global Pakistan’s commitment to mentoring 20,000 women is critical to catalysing other companies to step forward in both Pakistan and the United States,” Mr. Blome told a function, which marked the mentoring of more than 12,000 women by the S&P Global under the US-Pakistan Women’s Council’s PMWM initiative.

The event also commemorated Global Entrepreneurship Month, which featured S&P Global employee mentors, women mentees, and civil society partners. S&P Global Pakistan managing director Mujeeb Zahur, who was also in attendance, said the PMWM, which was launched in 2020, was a movement led by USPWC member, Pod, to connect one million women and girls in Pakistan to mentors.

He said S&P Global was the first USPWC member to support the initiative, pledging in March 2019 to reach 20,000 women and girls to advance women’s participation and leadership in STEM careers. “We [S&P Global] partnered with leading non-profits to reach women across Pakistan including USPWC member ‘The Indus Entrepreneurs’, and Society for International Education, She Means Work, Epiphany, xCircle, and CaterpillHers. These organisations conducted outreach and assessed the mentoring needs of the diverse profiles of girls and women across all regions of Pakistan. Collectively, the programme’s community partners have helped connect thousands of mentees to S&P Global Pakistan employees who serve as mentors,” he said.

Mr. Zahur thanked mentors for their work. “I am immensely proud of our employee volunteers who have shown how we can all inspire positive change. Their dedication has ensured that the organization remains on track in fulfilling its pledge. S&P Global will continue to take charge of progressive workplace policies in Pakistan and work with leading organisations to enhance women’s economic participation and impact,” he said.