Mentees Selection Criteria
To participate in Ouissal, you ideally meet the following requirements:
Career
- Managing director and ideally founder of their own company or applicant with career ambitions in larger state and private companies or authorities.
- Have already sufficiently secured the basic financing of the enterprise (e.g. have already received external financing grants)
- Advanced business plan and phase of scale-up with interest in targeted improvement (e.g. marketing strategy, corporate communication, human resources management, sales)
Tandem and program
- Willingness to invest approx. 1.5 hours per week for 1 year in the mentoring relationship in order to communicate regularly with the tandem partner throughout the mentoring programme (intensity and frequency of communication can be adapted to individual needs).
- Willingness to participate in the mandatory kick-off meeting in one of the partner countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East region (incl. travel to and from the meeting) as well as in the German-Arab Women’s Forum in Berlin.
- Willingness to develop strategies together and to implement ideas independently
- Desire to meet like-minded young women entrepreneurs in the German-Arab Women’s Network and to benefit from the entire network of mentors and mentees as well as the alumnae group
- Interest in intercultural exchange and experiences of other women entrepreneurs
- Openness, willingness to reflect and open communication to share challenges
- Appreciation of the exchange in the community (tandem or group)
Language skills
- Very good knowledge of English and/or French. Tandems are matched in a common language (French or English). No one is perfect: language skills do not have to be at mother tongue level. Nevertheless, the tandem partners should feel able to exchange ideas on business issues in French or English.
Our expectations of a mentee:
What is a mentee? | What is not a mentee? |
Sparring partner | Allegiance |
Impulse giver | Potential copy |
Direction giver | Mentor’s “daughter” |
Knowledge carrier | Completely ignorant and unspecialised |
Networker | Recipient of orders |
Motivated person | Consultant |
Interested person | Consumer |
Feedback provider |
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Feedback receiver |
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Additional Notes:
- Ouissal is a mentoring program, not a coaching program. All participating mentors in this program are women from the business community who share their wealth of knowledge and experience with the mentees on a voluntary basis.
- Ouissal does not aim to create entry opportunities in new markets, does not serve as an internship or job exchange or as a platform for commercial partnerships.
- The costs for the entire program will be covered (e.g. travel expenses, meals, accommodation).
