The wet conditions and serious traffic jams did not deter hundreds of women from attending the first meeting between mentors and participants on Tuesday, 22 January.
Hosted by the MEC for local government, Qedani Mahlangu, the breakfast meeting was aimed at pairing mentors with participants. Each mentor has two women under her wing. The groups spent time speaking about their business ventures and the role they played in their businesses.
Contact information was exchanged and arrangements were made for the relationships to grow successfully. Mahlangu said that it was very important for mentors to partner with people with whom they connected, because understanding between partners was needed throughout the programme.
"This programme has training elements to it and self-development implications and I believe that can only be done if the partners are comfortable with each other," she said.
The mentoring relationship is defined as a one-on-one process that allows individuals to learn from a more experienced person, and so develop themselves and their business acumen and leadership skills. It is a long-term approach to helping someone develop themselves and their careers.
"This programme is very important to us because we see more and more women getting [involved in] government activities and we thought this was one of the best ways to support these women," Mahlangu added.
She was where she was today because she had always had someone to guide her to becoming a better leader. Mahlangu also spoke about the benefits of being a mentor - it allowed the mentor to further her personal development; gave her the chance to express and review her own ideas and thinking; enabled her to participate in possible training and the development strategies of an organisation; and it helped to enhance her reputation and job satisfaction.
Benefits for the person being mentored included an increased sense of the direction of her career development; the growth of a wider professional network; an increased sense of self-worth; first-hand advice and guidance from experienced professionals; and an increased focus on progress and development both in her career and personal life.
"I encourage all the mentees to strive for self-development because the mentors are not going to be around forever. This programme helps people pursue the future," the MEC said.
She expected the mentors to expose the women they were helping to their working environment. "As women councillors you are expected to take informed decisions and that takes a knowledgeable person. We need to read as much as we can."
Advice was dished out to the women attending the event, with a focus on bad mentoring habits. Some of these were taking over discussions and doing most of the talking, never admitting to or showing any weakness, and never asking the person you were mentoring what she expected of you.
The provincial department of local government has partnered with Standard Bank to ensure the programme is successful. "Through this programme we want to endorse support for women empowerment," said Hannah Sadiki, the provincial director of Standard Bank in Gauteng.
She said the bank saw the programme as a vehicle to drive women into a successful future. "Women have always been marginalised in mainstream industry and we are trying to reverse that. We need to be capable MECs and ministers."
Mentors were chosen by the MEC last year from women in leadership positions in government, labour and business. She canvassed women across the country who were willing to volunteer their time to help other women, discussing ways in which they could help to empower female councillors.
Female councillors in Gauteng were invited to participate in the programme. They were targeted because most of them do not have any formal education and, after serving their five-year term, they fade from view in their communities.
The Kwanele programme will encourage and help them to develop themselves and find ways to sustain themselves after they have completed their councillorship terms.
Source: Joburg.org.za
Presentation for Seminar
