US Ambassador encourages successful women to mentor young girls

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Stephanie Sullivan has underscored the need for women in influential positions to mentor young girls to succeed and to impact society.

She said women benefit greatly when leaders, especially women, took the time to mentor other women and set them on a path to greater success.

“The world can never have enough women leaders but there are enough of us now for us to encourage successful women to pay their success forward by mentoring more,” she said

Ambassador Sullivan made the call at the Mentors' Forum organised by Standard Chartered Bank in collaboration with Mentoring Women Ghana.

The event brought together established women leaders to mentor younger women and to recruit more mentors.

The US Ambassador to Ghana stated that women need mentors who are tried and tested in their career to succeed.

“As you climb the ladder of success, remember to lift others up to succeed in their own journeys because success has a ripple effect of inspiration beyond those whom you mentor,” she said.

On her part, Mrs Asiedua Addae, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, said the Bank had partnered Mentoring Women in the last two years under its Diversity and Inclusion agenda.

She said the collaboration aimed to positively impact young women and help prepare them adequately for the future.

Under the partnership, our women serve as mentors over a period, to young women - university students/graduates recruited by Mentoring Women as mentees.

This has been a fulfilling journey, seeing the changes in the lives of some of the mentees and the lives of our mentors have been positively impacted too.

“The programme seeks to tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people especially women in our communities,” she explained.

She said the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles underpin the bank’s commitment to supporting women in the workplace, marketplace and community.

“To this end, we focus on ensuring female representation across all levels especially in senior roles. I am pleased to say that currently, we have 46 per cent female on the management team.

“Our community engagement programme future makers seeks to tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people especially women in our communities.

Mrs Addae said empowering women should not be left to organisations alone, adding that the onus was on senior female leaders to form strong networks if we want to achieve equality in the workplace and a fair representation of women at the top.

We need to tackle this at all levels ranging from young women in tertiary institutions to working women in middle-level management. We would make a great impact if we start with young women.

She noted that it is also an opportunity to build a really strong network of mentors across professions and industries.

Mrs Addae said mentees will benefit from a wider range of skill, expertise and experience as well as open up new opportunities for them.

“Great mentors always offer critical insights as to the right behaviours, opportunities and also offer tools for success,” she stressed.

Their aim, Mrs Addae said was to contribute to creating a better society of strong, empowered women ready for a better future.