7th International Days of Mentoring in Entrepreneurship explore international mentoring communities in Moscow and Surgut

Each year, YBI member Youth Business Russia (YBR) and the Mentoring Institute gather entrepreneurs, current and potential mentors as well as Russian and international mentoring experts from across the YBI network and beyond for the “International Mentoring in Entrepreneurship Days”. Participants share their experience and discuss how to innovate mentoring programmes to better serve young entrepreneurs.

This year, the two-day event took place on 27th November in Moscow and on 29th November in Surgut, Siberia, supported by Impact Hub Moscow and the Ugra Entrepreneurship Support Fund. The key theme was the creation, facilitation and support of mentor communities on a local, national and international level. It was a packed agenda!

On day one international mentoring experts Bat-Orshikh Erdenebat, Programme Manager of Youth Business Mongolia, Aruna Vinodh Kumar, Senior Director of the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) in India and John Cull, Mentoring Consultant at YBI, shared their experiences. While the speakers led mentoring programmes in different parts of the world, there were many similarities in their experiences. After an afternoon networking session, participants split into groups to identify and discuss common challenges and solutions. The day concluded with a masterclass run by John Cull and Boris Tkachenko, CEO of Youth Business Russia and the Mentoring Institute, exploring how mentors and mentees can provide the most valuable support to each other. As referenced in our research, mentor-mentee relationships are mutually beneficial.

On day two the event moved from Moscow to Surgut, Siberia, where 100 young entrepreneurs gathered to learn more about mentoring and how they can benefit from it. Mentoring experts shared their experiences from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and India. The discussions explored the psychological aspects of the mentor-mentee relationship, and how to create, develop and support communities of mentors and mentees. The day concluded with a final masterclass addressing how mentors and mentees can work together to overcome difficult situations and resolve conflicts through negotiation.

The International Days of Mentoring in Entrepreneurship were a great demonstration of the universal value of mentoring for supporting young entrepreneurs – regardless of country or cultural context – and the benefits of an international mentoring community.

Boris Tkachenko, CEO of Youth Business Russia, the Mentoring Institute and IBLF Russia, said:

“The International Mentoring Days have shown that it is important for mentors to not only feel part of a community in their country, but of the whole YBI network of mentors. Being part of a mentor community means being able to communicate with mentors from other countries, participating in regular international meetings and having an online platform.”

Thank you to all other speakers in Moscow and Surgut:

Irina Gorelova, Ekaterina Khaletskaya, Lilia Orlova, Ekaterina Geraskina, Alexey Pamshev, Victor Liberansky, Sumathi Hariharan, Bolortsetseg Gelegnamyjil, Dmitry Nekrasov, Sergey Sysak, Oybek Aitbaev, and Pavel Savchenko.