AWEC Mentor Spotlight: Mary Agyemang
Mary Agyemang
According to a survey conducted by Kabbage, an online financial technology company, 92% of small business owners agree that mentors have a direct impact on the growth and survival of their businesses. Mentors are integral to a founder’s success because they can provide different opinions, a helpful community, and valuable connections.
Mary Agyemang, a Ghanaian expat living and working in the US as an Operations Risk Manager at Fannie Mae, is volunteering as an AWEC mentor for a second year. Her experience has been so rewarding she has recruited three other people —including her husband— to follow suit. We sat down to talk with her about her mentoring experience.
Tell us about your day-to-day work and how it ties to AWEC.
I actually heard about AWEC from my previous role in management consulting, which focused on process improvement. At the time, I knew it made sense to do it because I was working on all these process improvement engagement projects for the federal government and other companies, helping them make the process easier and I thought I could be helping people with all this information I learned. My husband and I are from Ghana and we’ve always talked about moving back in order to help with development there, but it's not as easy especially once you start having a family and settle down, so this was my opportunity to give back - especially to African female entrepreneurs. I get the chance to help them make their company processes better. I also then did a little bit of risk management which led me to my new role in a different firm and again I get to use what I learn and leverage that to help my AWEC mentees.
Does being a member of the diaspora play a part?
Absolutely, because when you live in the diaspora, you’re holding onto two realities- where you came from and where you are now, but [in the diaspora] you are always going to be an ‘other.’ In college it can be an advantage, but once you come into the working world it is very different because I realized that when you are not the majority sometimes you get overlooked. I was fortunate to have help; people looked out for me. So now when I'm recruiting and working with people, I'm going to do the same and look out for people like myself.
Of course you still have to prove yourself, you have to be qualified; but I will look out for you.
That being said, knowing that handouts are not just given freely to minorities I feel like I'm almost obliged to help and always looking for ways to give back to the African community.
What motivates you not only to come back as a repeat mentor, but to encourage your friends – and even your husband – to become AWEC mentors?
The three other mentors I recruited really just came down to who they are as people. My husband has a very different background to mine —he’s in tech— and anytime [my mentees had] any type of tech-related questions or problems, I’d ask him. He would always give me really good ideas and solutions so I suggested he consider becoming a mentor. He was a little reluctant at first... you know how guys are...but as the year progressed he saw how much I was gaining from it and decided to join.
My friend, Tsega is very much like me but in a different field. She made a switch and went into development when she stopped working in corporate America. Sega was also impressed by AWEC’s mentoring model because she does similar work in the non-profit sector and I remember her sharing information from studies that have shown that entrepreneurs perform better if they have mentors. And people don’t realise the amount of work it takes to find mentors and match them with entrepreneurs. So by the end of that year, she didn’t waste time signing up.
The third mentor is one of my best friends. On my drives to work we’d have catch-up calls and oftentimes I’d run some of my [mentees’] problems by her and she was always excited for us to try and solve them together. She was definitely interested but at first she was concerned about being a single mom and not having the time, but by the end of the year just hearing my updates pretty much every day she was so intrigued and made the decision to do it. And she loves it. Yes she has the kids at home but like with everything, over time you just build the capacity to do these things and if you love it, you find a way.
Mary Agyemang (far right) with other AWEC mentors
If you could offer 3 or 4 tips to someone either interested in finding a mentor or becoming a mentor themselves, what would they be?
First, understand who you need
One of the things that I had to learn early on in my professional career was not to confuse mentors and sponsors —which is what I did at first. Sponsors almost have to take an interest in you. They are often the ones to see the potential in you, you don't push for a relationship, it's often a pull from their side. They've seen what you are doing and want to pull you up.
People expect mentors to be sponsors and mentors may not always be in a position to be a sponsor.That's okay because you can learn a lot from your mentors. Mentors are like a sounding board who can help you figure things out.
You have to be clear on what it is you need
Understand what you want out of the relationship - your goals are the objectives. A lot of people don't know what to expect and they expect that ‘hand-held’ approach, but that's not mentorship.
Mentors allow you to access their networks
One of the things I tell my mentees a lot is that they need to leverage a mentor’s networks because it's like an extension of themselves. So if you run into a challenge, it’s no longer just your mentor trying to solve the problem, there are other people who can get involved.
Mentorship crosses over industries and sectors
People often go looking for mentors in exactly the same field as themselves. I was fortunate to land a job in a firm where when you got to a certain level you had to become a mentor and they never paired you with someone in your practice. So for example, I’m in process improvement and they pair me with a tech analyst, the first thing I had to ask was, “What am I going to teach them?”
But then as you go through it you realise, as a mentor you’re not teaching them about their work; you’re teaching them how to become a better employee, how to get noticed and stand out —not just be professional and meet the minimum requirements— but how to be exceptional and differentiate themselves.
Build on the foundation
People are buying you! So get to know people first and work on the relationship first; even before asking for advice. Establish the personal connection so that you can build a rapport and trust.
How has the pandemic impacted your relationships with your mentees?
Let me start by saying that over the two years, I have gained some efficiencies. I know that they are busy, but over the years I figured out how to make it work.
For example, I created a WhatsApp group of all 5 of my mentees so I often post questions and topics just to get them thinking.
From my side, I would say I don't seem to have as much time as I did before the pandemic, so we have to be more creative. I do sessions of availability on Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and if somebody has a question they'll pop on; that seems to work.
In many mentor-mentee relationships, the mentees assume that they are reaping all the benefits. What do YOU get out of these experiences?
My mentees might say that they learnt a lot from me but I got so much out of the program. It made me really think about my own approach to mentoring because while I’ve mentored before, it was at EY, the previous company where I worked, and that was very different because then I was mentoring other consultants. Mentoring people back home on the continent requires that you switch the way you think because the way they operate, the environment, and processes are different. This helped to broaden the way I think about issues.
I always say I don't want to give people solutions but I like to help people with a process on how they should think about solutions. Before the AWEC program I used to think I thought outside the box but now I'm asking myself, ‘What box? Where is the box?’
Working with people on the continent has really pushed my limits to come up with solutions that work. You can’t just give the entrepreneurs cookie cutter solutions, things don’t work like that.
There is also a huge amount of fulfillment that comes with mentoring. I said in the beginning that all along I was asking myself what I was doing with all the good stuff I’m learning at work. It feels like finally, I get to do something with it. And then what I love is when the Fellows come back to me saying ‘Oh Mary, I tried what you suggested and it worked and this was the result…’ I’m like yaaay!! It’s so fulfilling because I know the impact and I see it affecting them in a positive way and THAT to me is priceless!
AWEC is fortunate to have a global network of mentors who volunteer their time, knowledge and expertise to our Fellows. We value their commitment in supporting our mission to empower Africa’s women entrepreneurs as they build their businesses. To find out more information about how to get involved with AWEC, visit our supporters page.