Business Mentoring

The Invest Africa-Oxford Saïd Business mentoring programme was developed out of the desire to make use of the extensive business expertise that lies within the Invest Africa membership and network, coupled with the aspiration to support business students who want to work in the African market. Part of Invest Africa’s vision is to be a central and influential driver in Africa’s economic growth, and this mentoring programme will help support some of Africa’s future business leaders. 

The programme was launched in November 2020 and paired 13 MBA African-national students from the school with Invest Africa Members.  

The programme takes place over the duration of the one-year MBA period. It is a voluntary programme that matches an Invest Africa member (the mentor, a C-Suite executive who is an expert in their field), with the MBA student, who is of African-origin. The main objective of the programme is to support mentees in the development of their careers, through personal and professional support from the mentees.   

The mentoring pairs commit to spending at least 2 hours together each month. Support is offered to the pairs throughout the year by the school and Invest Africa. The mentees also have access to Invest Africa’s wide range of digital, live events and content, as well as exposure to other members in our network. 

The mentors come from a diverse range of companies and sectors, from Sub-Saharan banking groups and digital education platforms to global insurance companies. The mentees are equally diverse in their range of talent and business interests. They have backgrounds in financial services, entrepreneurship; agribusiness and banking, to name a few. There is a strong desire amongst many of the students to make a sector change, with a lot of interest shown in corporate finance; education; impact investing and energy projects. The students are mostly from Sub-Saharan countries, including South Africa; Kenya; Nigeria; Zimbabwe; Ghana; Namibia and Tanzania.