Amman, Jordan - 12th May 2015: The Mowgli Foundation, an award winning, UK-headquartered mentoring organisation together with Future First Global, a global school to work transition charity co-hosted an inspiring and informative mentoring-orientated workshop entitled, "Mentoring: A Key Solution for Youth Employment". The session took place at the Arab Youth Employment conference: Promoting Innovative Solutions to Longstanding Challenges in Amman, Jordan on the 28th April. Attended by policy makers, NGO representatives, and private sector leaders from over 30 countries, the three-day conference showcased innovative, evidence-based approaches to tackling youth unemployment that are being implemented by leading organizations from throughout the region and the world.

The conference was organized by regional social initiative, Silatech, and hosted by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) at the Landmark Hotel in Amman from 28th - 30th April.  The event aims to address the evidence gap on youth employment by creating space for partnerships to form, grow, and replicate successful initiatives.

The interactive and experiential Mowgli-Future First Global workshop was moderated by Thanaa Al Khasawneh, Mowgli's Levant Business Manager, supported by Mowgli Lead Facilitators, Jamil Sarraj and Raed Madanat who challenged the audience with some thought-provoking questions before inviting them to participate in an introduction to mentoring.

Emily Laurie, Managing Director of Future First Global, took part in the panel along with Samar Dudin, Regional Director and Head of Programs at Ruwwad Al Tanmeya, and Haifa Najjar, a member of the Jordanian Senate who has extensive experience in the education sector and who was named as one of the 200 most powerful women in the Arab World in Forbes Middle East Magazine in 2014. The panel discussion explored how mentorship can truly support young people in developing entrepreneurial skills and mind-sets, support leadership development and provide a route to the workforce.

Before bringing the workshop to a close, open discussion was held with representatives of some of the key organisations working with Arab youth, including Injaz Al Arab, Education for Employment - Jordan (JEFE) and Umniah. The panel shared their ways of supporting youth, offered their advice to the audience as well as their hopes for youth mentoring in the region over the coming years.

The Mowgli Foundation seeks to support the sustainable development of societies through the mentoring and evolution of entrepreneurs and leaders. This is achieved through the provision of unique and unparalleled mentoring and leadership development programs. Mowgli's unique programs enable mentors to develop their capabilities, offer their practical support and share their expertise to help entrepreneurs grow as leaders and expand their businesses, thereby creating new jobs and economic growth.

Mowgli CEO, Kathleen Bury commented: "We were honoured to take part in the AYE conference in Jordan as rising youth unemployment is a critical challenge currently facing the MENA region. One of the key drivers of Mowgli's mission is to support the development of a sustainable economic ecosystem through mentoring. We truly believe that empowering the youth of today through mentoring is one of the key solutions to the unemployment issue"

Emily Laurie, Managing Director, Future First Global commented: "It was a pleasure to run such an engaging session with Mowgli. We believe alumni who return to their former schools can be relatable and motivational mentors to current students. We are here to support this model to develop in the region." Emily Laurie, Managing Director, Future First Global

About Mowgli
The Mowgli Foundation is an award winning, UK-headquartered mentoring organisation, established in 2008, which has been pioneering and specializing in entrepreneurial mentoring and embedding leadership development through the philosophy of mentoring within MENA's governments, corporates, entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Mowgli provides mentoring that inspires, connects and guides entrepreneurs and leaders to overcome life's personal and business challenges through:

  • Interactive, experiential and transformational 'Kickstart' workshops

  • A unique environment for accelerated relationship building, mentor training and matching

  • Engagement within a learning and mentoring focused global alumni network

Mowgli has an alumni with over 1550 members and has matched over 750 entrepreneurs with trained mentors in 12 countries; Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and the UK. In December 2012, Mowgli was recognised with the Mohammed bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders Award for the 'Best Mentor Network in the Arab Region'. More information is available on Mowgli's website: www.mowgli.org.uk

For media inquiries:
Dubai: Kathleen Bury
Email: Kathleen.bury@mowgli.org.uk

© Press Release 2015