Mentorship Program

Background

Better Future Together (BFT) is a European-based NGO that creates programming and mentorship networks for the benefit of young entrepreneurs in the Middle East.

There are hundreds of creative and smart individuals across the MENA region with the ideas and potential to change the world, but their circumstances provide little opportunity to help realize those dreams. BFT looks to partner these talented individuals with experienced mentors who can support them in setting up, developing and managing their businesses or initiatives.

Mission & Vision

The ultimate mission of BFT is to help intelligent and creative young entrepreneurs reach their full potential, despite the challenges of their circumstances. We aim to achieve this by helping them develop healthy and beneficial relationships with other young entrepreneurs who have already achieved success and can provide targeted guidance.

Ultimately, we seek to create a community of successful mentors for long-term networking, supported by international sponsors who can inspire both our mentors and our mentees.

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Our Mentors

BFT mentors are successful entrepreneurs and business-owners from various fields. Some founded their own start-up companies with products they ideated and created, others opened successful retail businesses, and some have launched service-based companies that have been met with wide demand.

BFT believes in the power of young people, and this is reflected in the age range of our mentors, all of whom reached tangible success before the age of 40. This helps promote a relatable youth culture between mentor and mentee, though respect is always the primary value upheld.

In order to further promote a relatable culture, BFT seeks out mentors with a background or connection to the Middle East. Our mentees face unique challenges and roadblocks, and in order for our mentors to have the greatest impact possible, we find it best if they understand these unique challenges, as well as their general mentality and inherent drive.

Our Mentees

BFT aims to provide mentorship opportunities to young entrepreneurs from the Middle East. When considering our mentees, we use entrepreneurs broadly; previous participants have included young developers creating new apps, as well as promising finance students introducing revolutionary business tactics. Their common ground lies in their desire for success, their aptitude for hard work, their intelligence and creativity, and the shared struggles they face in achieving their dreams.

BFT seeks out its mentees in a number of places - universities and graduate programs, local accelerators and incubators, internship programs, technology meetups and business clubs, and similar events, programs and locations where promising entrepreneurs may be getting their start. BFT partners with many of these groups to cultivate mentorship resources and events, and these partners in turn refer promising candidates to us. Former participants of our mentorship program also refer candidates - friends, family, interns, and others they've come across in their own journeys.

Why MENA?

A study by Wamda Research Lab shows that there is a severe mentorship gap in the MENA region, but an increasing need. Due to the small market size within the Middle East, entrepreneurs need to scale externally to reach success, and often need guidance regarding the cultural, legal, and linguistic challenges of a particular region. Further, entrepreneurs cited a lack of capital and of non- financial support as critical challenges to growth- both of which can be solved by building relationships with other entrepreneurs with international networks.

Our goal is to counter this challenge by providing talented up-and-comers in the region with the tools for success that will change their future, as well as a network to buoy them throughout their journey.

Program Details

BFT is designed as a remote mentorship program, with pairs meeting through our video portal for 1-2 hours a week. BFT provides mentorship rubrics, handouts and guidebooks for participants on both sides of the line, including a short questionnaire for each to assess their counterpart's performance and investment in the program. BFT requests a minimum of 3 months participation from each mentor, though of course encourages longer-term relationships with their mentees.

However, other than that, there is very little set structure to BFT because of the trust and faith we put in our mentors. We allow them to design their own sessions and guide their mentees in the way they deem most beneficial. Further, if mentor and mentee have the opportunity for an in-person introduction, we certainly encourage that as well.

In addition, BFT provides opportunities for both mentors and mentees alike to visit our impressive partners - primarily MNEs and unicorn start-ups - for additional networking.

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