The Mentorship Academy, also known as TMA, has been established recently, in 2021 as a Non-Profit-making Organisation (NPO), under the stewardship of Ms. Brenda Lindiwe Mabaso.
The Academy offers an online mentorship program (E-Mentorship) for young women, may they be employed, unemployed or self-employed. Whilst piloting this program in South Africa, the aim is to ensure the rolling out of the program throughout the African Continent. To this, TMA will be partnering with strategic other NPO’s and relevant structures in other countries.
TMA will ensure that young women become a valuable asset and a catalyst in growing the South African economy whilst also building their confidence to change societal norms about “womanhood” and successfully face societal stereotypes and be able to lead from the front. The ultimate goal of the Academy is to contribute to the human development and empowerment of young women removes obstacles that hinder and deprive them of growth. It will provide practical just in time remedial action, ensure sustainable social relations and partnerships across the globe.
One of the distinguishing features of the Alliance is that it will pioneer new measures of human development for young women, especially post Covid-19, using new technological methods which will also address the digital disparities. Its main focus will be to deal with unequal empowerment and the levels of discrimination especially in the workplace, which hinders freedom and human development.
To build a pool and pipeline of young women leaders through transformative mentorship.
Address barriers to leadership for young women in South Africa and Africa
To create a young-adult E-Mentorship platform and unleash hidden leadership talent
On the 15th of September 1995, the Fourth World Conference, held in Beijing, Nations worldwide reaffirmed their commitment to the equal rights and inherent human dignity of women and men, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. Despite these commitments, a century later, Gender inequality, especially in the area of leadership development and opportunities for women remains a major challenge and set back for most economies.
There is an opinion that: Women representation in leadership positions is low, with young women being the most disadvantaged.
The low representation of women in leadership positions is a global phenomenon and cuts across sectors both at individual and organizational. Women from different backgrounds face desperate barriers to leadership, which must be overcome to support their leadership potential.
Majority of young women suffer the blunt of discrimination and are excluded from leadership positions. There is no doubt that whilst young women aspire to take the lead there are real barriers that hinder their success, especially in the workplace and these include: having to prove themselves more than their male counterparts, family responsibilities outside of work (“the motherhood penalty”) which can lead to delayed careers, gender discrimination, and the fact that women are less likely to ask for a promotion or raise!
The Mentorship Academy therefore emphasizes the need to build leadership capacity for young women, with more focus on the importance of mentorship, which should be part of any businesses strategic approach and policy for human resource development.
Brenda Lindiwe Mabaso
It was in the year 2020, just when the Covid-19 pandemic started that Ms Lindiwe Brenda Mabaso,
conceptualized the formation of the mentorship program.
Through research and consultation with international counterparts in Canada, she was convinced about the
importance of mentorship in addressing barriers to leadership for women.
Like real Thought Leaders, she identified networks that would help formulate her thinking on the
establishment of a mentorship program. The main contact that influenced, channeled and supported the
birth of the Mentorship Academy is the former Executive Director of United Nations Women’s Desk, Dr
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who at that time was driving the Generation Equality Forum.
The Founder is not new to conceptualization of gender programs and having worked with a number of Non
Profit-making Organisations (NPOs), starting the Mentorship Academy was a no brainer, despite all the
challenges that came with it. She attributes the success of establishing the Academy to a number of
other women with powerful experience, who supported the vision. “These women conquered that exclusion
cannot continue to be the norm, we need co-creative solutions for advancement of the gender equality
agenda” she said.
The Founder holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Durham University Business School, in
the United Kingdom and is currently doing her Doctorate with University of Northampton in the United
Kingdom.
