Mentoring and Empowerment for Southern female students - 4th edition

The project - designed to encourage inclusion and gender equality among female students in Southern Italy - offers opportunities for development and growth to those girls enrolled in master's degree courses in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic) and economics.
This fourth edition - also organized by Ortygia Business School which has long been engaged in the development of projects for female empowerment – brings together several companies united by attention to the issues of inclusion and gender equality. Among these companies Intesa Sanpaolo is the main partner.
The 130 young students (mentees) who have joined the initiative will be supported individually by as many managers (mentors) who cover different roles and functions in the companies. The mentees were selected in 12 universities in Southern Italy: Università degli Studi di Napoli-Federico II, Politecnico di Bari, Università della Calabria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Università degli Studi di Catania, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Università degli Studi di Messina, Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope, Università del Salento, Università di Salerno, Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Università degli studi di Bari. 

The project applies the mentoring of established professionals to provide young students with useful tools to recognize their strengths and inclinations, encouraging them to be ambitious in planning their future.
In the six-month mentoring program, mentees will be guided in exploring the world of work. The mentor-mentee relationship - based on trust and mutual listening - develops with a continuous exchange and comparison between different approaches and points of view.
This comparison creates personal and professional points of connection that become a space for growth for both protagonists. On the one hand, young female students, by becoming aware of their personal skills and the many opportunities that exist in the world of work, will be more prepared and specific in imagining their future. On the other hand, the mentors will benefit from a fruitful comparison with each other and in particular with the young mentees.

We believe that mentoring is a successful methodology for the transfer of knowledge and professional skills, and also the experience and the ability to listen and openness of mentors allows the mentees to know the context and understand the business dynamics to be acted in order to access and integrate into the professional realities that await them.
The collaboration on the project Young Women Empowerment Program is inspired by the firm will to create opportunities to work on the personal development of young female students from Southern Italy and to increase their chances of accessing study and career paths.
The initiative is therefore a precious opportunity in the effort to overcome stereotypes and barriers through the comparison between generations, developing new self-esteem, ambition and the ability to self-fulfillment.

The course includes 6 individual sessions in person or remotely lasting approx 1 hour. Plenary sessions are organised during the programme to explore topics of interest in more detail by the companies involved. The course is scheduled to end on 28 June 2023.