Tell us more about what you do?
Reach is the first structured mentoring programme for women in the UAE and the first non-profit organisation to be registered at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). As a non-profit mentoring programme, Reach is provided to eligible mentees at no cost, to give aspiring female professionals access to well-established and -respected business leaders from both genders, allowing them to build connections and relationships that wouldn’t be otherwise possible.
Reach provides training for the mentors and mentees by Dawn Metcalfe, to help them set their goals, structure their relationship and understand how to get the best out of the program.
Matching is impartial and happens through our electronic platform, mentoring complete, which we have chosen from the US after assessing many options. The platform assesses the criteria that both mentors and mentees input in the system, with their requirements and matches accordingly.
Reach truly focuses on the needs of each individual in order to make the program a success.
What made you found Reach?
The urge to give back to the community and help women climb up the ladder, succeed and achieve their goals. Reach benefits the professional world by creating more confident women in the workplace.
Reach was founded by four businesswomen as part of their own commitment to empower women by creating a community of like-minded people and giving them accessibility to senior and experienced professionals for advice.
How do you help companies?
Companies involved in the Reach program by sponsoring it, in kind or financial, are eligible to put 5 mentors and 5 mentees into the program. These companies ensure that their candidates get an outside perspective on mentoring, as opposed to in-house mentoring which could have some political aspect involved. Women are then free to discuss personal matters that affect their performance and their professional life, such as starting a family or lack of family support.
Furthermore, Reach provides workshops for mentees and mentors throughout the year. These workshops one are a great way to network, and two offer specialised topics taught by professionals in their field. A true added benefit that many mentoring programs do not offer.
Which client projects have been a success?
We do not undertake specific client projects and do not have clients per se. We work closely with our sponsors who provide us support, legal, audit, marketing, branding and PR, amongst many other areas of their expertise. We pride ourselves in being non exclusive, and therefore benefit from the expertise of many firms who are in the same business.
How can our readers find out more about Reach?
Our website www.reachmentoring.org contains all the information that you would need. We personally interview candidates and happy to have candidates reach out to us through our website.
