Aspire Foundation Newsletter February 2016

The Aspire Foundation Newsletter #3 February 2016

Welcome to The Aspire Foundation newsletter!

By Emma Barrett I don’t know about you, but my January has flown by so fast, I have no idea where it’s gone!

It’s been a great month for Aspire and the Aspire Foundation.

The M.A.D. Global Leadership event kicked off in London. I was lucky enough to be able to drop in - it was a great event! Check out pages 7 to 10 to read more or, if you have access, you can read all about it on Twitter (@aspireFDN) or Facebook.

Since joining forces with Avanade, we’ve seen lots of new mentors join us on our mission to positively impact one billion women by 2020. Our Community Q&A this month is with one of our M.A.D. men. It’s so interesting to get a male perspective on mentoring.

If you’re on the fence about signing up to be a mentor or mentee, please read Penny and Mina’s story. It is wonderful to hear how these two women, through mentoring, have inspired each other and how Mina’s mentoring is encouraging Penny to do such amazing work.

If you’d like to share your story, please drop me a line via editor@aspirefoundation.org. I love hearing from you!

Emma Aspire Foundation Newsletter Editor

Over to you...

Gail Stocker works for Comedy Contact and is one of our Aspire Foundation mentors.

She recently contacted us to tell us about meeting up with her mentees in person...

“I became interested in Aspire because I thought I would be an asset and a resource for mentors. Vicky and I were finishing our mentoring program, Sarah and I were just starting our mentoring sessions.

I took the opportunity of my Christmas visit to London to meet them both. I thought it would be fun for us to meet and it was. We had afternoon tea at the Stafford Hotel.�

Mentoring Special This month we learn more about Mina and Penny. Mina Rahimi is a mentor from Avanade, our new partners helping us to Make A Difference to One Billion women by 2020. She mentors Penny Lapakio, the founder of Enga Women in Coffee, an organization whose purpose is to empower women in the coffee production chain.

Penny Lapakio

Aspire Foundation, to me is a hidden treasure I discovered. Coming from a background where I have only grade 12 level of education and being a rural village woman truly I can’t believe the changes I am starting to see especially at personal level. I thank the Aspire Foundation from the bottom of my heart.

Frankly writing I had zero idea about mentoring. Even worse I don’t know what is internet too. All I knew was the name and they said the world is in it. Just because of the nature of the organization I am in charge called Enga Women In Coffee it requires more work and also exposure both at local and international level. I took into consideration the responsibility I had to shoulder to move the organization forward and also the limitations I had mostly at personal level. This prompted me to search the web somehow and here ended up with Aspire Foundation. Since taking part in this mentoring program now I am able to access internet, receive and send emails and even talk with my mentor on Skype virtually seeing my mentor talking live with me. For me this is a great change.

“I am changed by the Aspire Foundation mentoring program” When compared with other women, especially primary school teachers and nursing officers from my area though they are educated as far as college level and in work force they literally don’t know how to use a computer, internet is no exception.

Above all, my mentor from the USA, Mina Rahimi, is my perfect match. The Aspire Foundation has its own criteria to match a mentor with a mentee but I am convinced beyond doubt that my mentor is a true blessing from God. She is more than a mentor.

Myself and the Enga Women In Coffee’s 500 plus rural village women members consider Mina not just as a mentor but see her as one of the key person in our organization. She is very helpful, generous and a understandable lady. In our first meeting I was nervous and was in a pressure. I was thinking “how I am going to speak English to her?”, “Is she going to clearly understand me?” I might make her confused with my English and make her upset too. All these conflicting thoughts were flushing in to my head. However she just understood me very well. Her effort and time committed to help Enga women In Coffee is just hard for me to express here. I am very glad and proud to have such a resourceful lovely woman as my mentor. I have a firm belief that with my mentor I will see great changes, not only at organizational level but also personally too.

With this I think I am a good example to my women folks here in my province and also my country. I am changed by the Aspire Foundation mentoring program. My scope of understanding and knowledge has broadened and I am exposed to wider global communities. I am proud to be part of the Aspire Foundation’s mentoring program.

Mina Rahimi I initially signed up to be a mentor for the Aspire program because it was something I could participate in, regardless of my travel schedule. I then attended my first session to go over what Aspire was all about and what it means to be a mentor. Once you attend you will be hooked! There is a great community of mentors and mentees around the world and the conversation with individuals that are part of this organization will inspire you. I know it did me.

Right after this mentor training session I was given a list of individuals to choose from as people I thought may be a good fit with me as their mentor. Penny Lapakio was on this list and who I selected. Penny started Enga Women in Coffee to empower rural women in the coffee value chain. She has provided the means for these women to grow their own coffee to help out them and their families and has grown her group of women to 500+. I had been interested in Fair Trade Coffee for several years and what some organizations were doing around this and due to my 6 year old nephew having a fascination with Papua New Guinea (I had gotten an ear-full on this far away land and everything about it for the last year!), I thought this might be an interesting person I should work with, so reached out to have Penny as my mentee to get a better understanding of the place and people I had heard so much about.

My first meeting with Penny was incredible.

She came to the meeting prepared with key goals she wanted to address which was extremely helpful for me that she knew exactly what she wanted to do. They were the following:

1. Create more of a presence for her organization.

They are currently half way to their goal to get a jeep.

2. Fund raising initiatives.

Fair Trade which I have read a lot about in the past but would have no idea how to get setup I thought would be the best bet for Penny to try to get a fair price for their coffee.

We are currently working with Aspire and their network of mentors to reach out to individuals that have a background in Fair Trade to see what they can do for Penny and the Enga Women to get them a fair price.

3. Get the same price for her coffee as the men that came to market. 2 kina vs. 5 kina.

4. Figure out a way to get a truck for the organization.

As we talked about the technology that Penny had available to her I found out she has to travel an hour to get full internet access for our calls. She is in a very remote area and must travel to town for that. Now anytime I start to complain because the bus is late or something isn’t going according to plan, I think of what Penny has to do to keep her organization going. I am also very respectful of ensuring I make our calls due to some of the technology challenges.

We discussed getting more of a social media presence and I talked to Ovex Jamaika, a young man who is helping Penny and the organization with their technology, to get Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and some other not-for-profit site presence setup right away for them. We are working to get a dedicated computer for them to utilize for the development of their website and trying to find free tools to assist them in this development effort.

Penny amazed me on our next call. After we discussed fund raising she had taken her dowry pigs (which are very important to a woman and their family in Papua New Guinea) and auctioned them off to raise money for a jeep to haul the women’s coffee to market. Currently, the Enga women walk 3 days carrying bags of coffee to get the coffee to market. Penny also got other women in the organization to do the same with their dowry but it is very difficult since these pigs are the prized possession of a family there.

I do not feel like this is just a mentor/mentee relationship. I am there to be Penny’s mentor but I have gained so much insight and knowledge from Penny also about ways to go about things in my own life. Sometimes just getting away from what you know and discussing things with someone outside of your everyday routine can help you in having a new insight. I started this with a phone call once a month. Penny told me on our call before the holidays that she wanted to thank me for the help and talks, but she also told me that “The Ladies” (as she calls the 500 women that work hard on growing and planting coffee) also wanted to thank me. It made me realize the couple of hours a month I was spending with Penny was helping out a whole community and it really brought me a lot of joy to know that.

Penny is such an incredible inspiration of what one person can do for their community and I enjoy our talks immensely.

I would recommend everyone to try out the Aspire Foundation mentoring program as they may be surprised at how much it will bring them in their life to be a mentor.

Aspire Making A Difference Global Leadership Event Emma Barrett At the end of January, M.A.D. women and men took over London for two days!

The ExCeL Centre was a temporary home for 500 women and men getting the New Year off to a great start with goal setting, understanding their leadership purpose, conquering their fears and generally starting a M.A.D. movement! I went along to Day Two to catch up with some of these #madglobalwomen (and men) and see what it was all about..!

I joined everyone at lunchtime and the first thing that struck me was just how much energy was in the room - everyone was in groups, chatting about the session they’d just been in.

I got talking to one of the volunteers, Benedicte, who volunteered because Aspire helped her to realise that she wanted to be a leader, rather than a manager. Aspire had changed her life and helped her to be more ambitious. In the future, she wants to bring her daughter to an event.

Speaking of volunteers, a big shout out needs to go to all of them for such a great job!

I chatted to Julie and Martine who said the event had given them a lot of food for thought with some interesting arguments. We discussed how, despite the UK making great strides in terms of gender parity in the workplace, there were still companies reluctant to bring in policies such as flexible working, remote working and good maternity leave provisions.

I dropped in to the session held by Gosia Gorna, who is a Transformational Coach (and Dr Sam Collins own coach!) who reminded us that amazing things rarely happen when you’re in your comfort zone. When setting our goals, we should be intentional, in our hearts and intuitive.

Visualisation can be a great way to help you to achieve your goals. Imagine that you’ve achieved your goal – what does it look like? What are you doing differently? What do you know now that you didn’t know then?

During the break your roving reporter was back amongst the attendees! Claire thought the speakers had been “amazing” and inspired her to want to give something back. One of our M.A.D. men, Steve, felt he had been pushed out of his comfort zone (in a good way!). He also spoke about how his employer was committed to a culture change and was leading from the top in terms of how it treats its people.

Laura came as a guest of her mentor. She is enjoying her mentoring sessions as they’ve made her think about things in a different way and given her the space to think more about her career and what she does and does not want to do. She’s advising other colleagues to sign up as mentees and is considering giving back by becoming a mentor in the future.

Dr Sam Collins led the next session, focussing on Strategic Thinking and Time Leadership Skills. Only 20% of people follow through on their commitments – decide to be one of the 20%!!

She discussed how we can set goals which can seem impossible, but reminded us that extraordinary results come from taking ordinary steps every day in the right direction.

There are three key things to remember:

Genius Time Understand the time of the day where you perform at your best. For me, it’s first thing in the morning (usually right after my first coffee!). Use that time to plan and think “how can I make the biggest difference today?”

Do less, be more Consider your energy levels like a bank account – try to stay in the black! If you start every day “overdrawn” you will struggle.

There are two different types of people – Energy Angels and Energy Vampires. The best way to attract an Energy Angel is to be one!

Your strengths are things you’re good at and things you enjoy. Aim to spend 80% of your day on your strengths.

Have an outstanding yes and no Say no to the things you don’t want to do. Consider what you need / want to say yes to.

Exercise that ‘no’ muscle!

Next up on stage was Adam Warby from Avanade. He reminded us that: “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women” (Kofi Annan) In terms of the corporate world, it makes sense to empower women. Being a company which offers women careers and opportunities is good for business!

Avanade are supporting our goal to positively impact on one billion women by 2020 by lending huge support to our mentoring program.

Adam shared his top tips for mentors and mentees: 

Be intentional about your goals and aspirations



Go out and screw something up… even if you fail, you’ve tried something new

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Don’t wish for the right cards – use the ones you’ve been dealt

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Follow your passion



Be passionate

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Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate!

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Think outside of the box

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Don’t give up

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Don’t let negative thoughts in

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Believe in your goals!

Adam also revealed that Avanade will be supporting the Aspire Foundation to empower even more women with a donation of $100,000!

The afternoon, and indeed the two days in London, ended with a big thanks to all the volunteers and ExCel staff, a rousing sing-along to Gary Barlow’s “Sing” and a Scottish bag-piper!

Future events are planned for Chicago, London, South Africa and Sydney soon! If you’d like to volunteer to help, make sure you let Sam know!

Aspire Foundation Community Q&A Rich Stern is Corporate Vice President, Global Technology Infrastructure and Workplace Enablement Services global domain lead at Avanade, our new Corporate partner. He recently signed up to be one of our M.A.D. male mentors!

Q: When did you sign up to be a mentor on the Aspire Foundation mentoring programme?

A: September/October 2015.

Q: Why did you sign up to be a mentor?

A: I wanted to help someone who could benefit from my 30 years of working experience Q: Do you feel you've benefitted yourself from being part of the Aspire Foundation mentoring programme?

A: Yes, the experience with Emma (Emma Scott, Mentoring, Network and Training Manager at The Diana Award) has been wonderful, I am learning as much from her as she is from me hopefully.

Q: Is there anything you've done differently since you've become a mentor?

A: I try to spend more time giving people the context so they are better informed and can make more complete decisions.

Q: You're one of our M.A.D. men - what made you want to be involved?

A: Same as why I signed up to be a mentor, I also believe the mission of the Aspire Foundation is outstanding. I have been very successful in my career and I feel it is my obligation to give back the knowledge I have gained to the next generation of upcoming leaders. Also, being the father of three girls, this is personal for me.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering becoming an Aspire Foundation mentor, what would that be?

A: Do it, it is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Q: And for someone considering signing up as a mentee, what advice would you give to them?

A: Keep an open mind, it’s a big world out there and there are plenty of people who can help you. The Aspire Foundation makes leveraging the collective knowledge of the mentors easily available to the mentees.

Have you attended one of our events yet? If yes, why not drop us a line to let us know what you thought of the event?

Our next Aspire Foundation Community Event will be held on Wednesday 17th February 2016 via webinar. This event is open to mentees, mentors and anyone interested in joining The Aspire Foundation mentoring scheme.

The webinar will provide an overview of the mentoring scheme. It’s interactive, so you have the opportunity to learn from other mentors and mentees and to provide us with feedback.

You can sign up via The Aspire Foundation website here or drop Liesl a line at Liesl@theaspirefoundation.org

“It is a solemn duty to change lives positively.

It is a noble honor to inspire and be there for others. It is an irresistible necessity to have empathy; to understand the situations and the reasons for the actions of others.

Real mentoring is less of neither the candid smile nor the amicable friendship that exists between the mentor and the mentee and much more of the impacts. The indelible great footprints of the mentor lives on the mind of the mentee in a life changing way.

How the mentor changes the mentee from ordinariness to extraordinariness; the seed of purposefulness that is planted and nurtured for great fruits; the prayer from afar from the mentor to the mentee; and the great inspirations the mentee takes from the mentor to dare unrelentingly to face the storms regardless of how arduous the errand may be with or without the presence of the mentor�

Ernest Agyemang Yeboah