National Mentorship Movement

The National Mentorship Movement’s purpose is to give people a better chance in life through the power of mentorship. Our mandate is to introduce mentorship at scale to support entrepreneurs and across the nation to create jobs and greater social cohesion. We mobilise volunteer mentors and connect them to people who could benefit from their support, and keep in touch with the partners to ensure the programme is working for them both.

Since beginning operation in 2016, we have: 

• Mobilised over 1 100 volunteer mentors and facilitated mentorship support to over 1 700 people (over 800 currently)
• Partnered with COMENSA, the International Coach Federation, the Global Society for Organisational Learning and the Start-up Tribe
• Won the Africa Startup Ecosystem Builder winners in the Mentor category in 2023, and were finalists in the 2023 CSI Legacy Awards in the Rising NGO category
• Had overwhelming endorsement from participants with almost 95% of survey respondents recommending the programme.

We are an NPC and Section 18A PBO and our model is based on three pillars:

• Our Platform on which we register and onboard participants, match them and manage their relationships
• Our Partners including partners with beneficiaries who could benefit from mentorship support, partners who can assist us mobilise volunteer mentors and our social and NGO partners
• Our Programmes which we tailor to each specific situation and the needs of the partners and the beneficiaries. We focus particularly on sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs and assist young people, women, students and entrepreneurs succeed, including industry based interventions.

 Recent programmes include those with:

• CDI Capital (Craft & Design Institute) (entrepreneurs)
• Da Vinci Institute (unemployed youth)
• Deloitte (executives)
• Fix Forward (building contractors)
• Mancosa (students)
• Old Mutual (black professionals, students and entrepreneurs)
• Pernod Ricard (township entrepreneurs)
• Printing SA (entrepreneurs and employees in the sector)
• Sanlam Investment Group (internal staff and external township entrepreneurs)
• Standard Bank (small and medium enterprises)
• Sunshine Cinema (township youth)
• SuperSport (women in sport)
• Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) (entrepreneurs in the innovation sector)
• Tourism Business Council of South Africa (entrepreneurs and women in the industry) and
• V&A Waterfront (entrepreneurial tenants).