Azeem A Khan

S&P Global Pakistan has mentored more than 12,000 women as part of its pledge to mentor 20,000 under the US Pakistan Women’s Council’s (USPWC) Pakistan Million Women Mentors (PMWM) initiative. The company announced this milestone during an event co-hosted by the USPWC and S&P Global to commemorate Global Entrepreneurship Month featuring S&P Global employee mentors, women mentees and civil society partners. Launched in 2020, PMWM is a movement led by USPWC members to connect one million women and girls in Pakistan to mentors.

S&P Global is the first USPWC member to support the initiative, pledging in March 2019 to reach 20,000 women and girls to advance women’s participation and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. US Ambassador Donald Blome in his opening remarks at the event said, “Mentorship is critical to fostering the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs, and the Council’s Pakistan Million Women Mentors initiative is playing an important role by helping to encourage, inspire, and support future women entrepreneurs and leaders in STEM in Pakistan.”

He said corporations in Pakistan and the United States have pledged to mentor more than 40,000 women so far, “and we hope to continue growing this number.” He added, “S&P’s commitment to mentor 20,0000 women was critical to catalysing other companies to step forward in both Pakistan and the United States.” S&P Global partnered with leading non-profits to reach women across Pakistan including USPWC members the Indus Entrepreneurs, the Society for International Education, She Means Work, Epiphany, xCircle and CaterpillHers.

These organizations conducted outreach and assessed the mentoring needs of the diverse profiles of girls and women across all regions of Pakistan. Collectively, the programme’s community partners have helped connect thousands of mentees to S&P Global Pakistan employees who serve as mentors. Speaking at the event, S&P Global Pakistan Managing Director Mujeeb Zahur thanked the mentors for the work they have done to date. He said, “I am immensely proud of our employee volunteers who have shown how we can all inspire positive change. Their dedication has ensured that the organization remains on track in fulfilling its pledge.” 

Mujeeb said S&P Global will continue to take charge of progressive workplace policies in Pakistan and work with leading organizations to enhance women’s economic participation and impact. More than 150 S&P Global mentors have so far delivered 190+ sessions on STEM and other diverse topics to over 12,000 women through PMWM. The initiative provided critical support to women during COVID-19, fostering Pakistani women’s economic resilience by virtually connecting women entrepreneurs and women in the workforce from diverse social, linguistic, and academic backgrounds with a network and critical tools to build their capacity.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk