NESsT Empowers is a program that invests in enterprises that connect women to the resources they need to launch their careers in high-growth industries.
The program was created to help women who face discrimination in the hiring process access the career resources to transition into sustainable and quality jobs. This has been crucial given the way that the pandemic has disproportionately affected female workers. In Poland, women are over-represented in industries such as health and trade that are high-risk for COVID-19. Additionally, women experience compounding burdens from unpaid household care work and face increased risks of violence and exploitation during quarantine. (OECD, 2020)
NESsT Empowers connects social enterprises with successful business leaders who are interested in deepening their commitment towards diversity, equity and inclusion of their workplace.
In 2020, NESsT and Mamo Pracuj Foundation, a company in NESsT’s portfolio, matched mentors from BNY Mellon, Credit Suisse, and Sage to 12 students from the University of Success and Future Collars through a series of evaluations that enable each student to work with mentors in their desired career and/or area of study.
NESsT Empowers enables women to seek safe employment opportunities, be mindful of changes in labor market trends, identify new career paths, overcome entry barriers to the tech industry, and better understand how to work in an international environment.
“I had an amazing mentor who taught me so much about professional development and motivated me to take action. One of my goals that my mentor and I worked on was to create a good CV and prepare for a job interview. She also helped me overcome mental barriers that I have set in place for myself that hinder my development.
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Future Collars is another enterprise in the NESsT portfolio that partnered with the Digital University Foundation to provide the first group of 12 young women with classes that reinforced their soft skills and technical and programming knowledge. Through NESsT Empowers, graduates of Future Collars participated in regular mentor-mentee meetings for continuous career development support throughout the 4-month program.
With the mission of helping young women realize their career goals, experienced mentors shared their learnings from years of working in the industry, giving mentees tips on time management, teamwork, and providing them information about different positions that exist in a large corporation.
“I decided to become a mentor for several reasons. First of all, I had been thinking about volunteering for a long time, and when the mentoring support option for young girls starting their careers appeared, I wanted to be part of this program. It is extremely enriching to get to know a different perspective, share your knowledge and experience, and provide support. I benefited from career mentoring programs myself in the past, as a mentee, so I treated this initiative as my “giving back”. I will be happy to continue my mentoring support if the opportunity arises again. ”
For the young program participants, NESsT Empowers provides a community of peers and guides so that they do not feel alone as they encounter barriers and strive for their career goals. In addition to regular one-on-one mentor meetings, the program also offers workshops to improve their candidacy, while creating accountability as they search for employment. The first workshop was devoted to empathic communication and highlighted the importance of finding proper work-life balance. Surveys given to participants before the program started revealed that most people wanted to improve their soft skills. To address this need, the second workshop focused on building courage, trust, mindfulness, and self-discipline, helping participants to build confidence in the workplace.
The program concluded with a unique session with Joanna Chmura, a Professional Certified Coach(PCC), from whom participants received structured guidance on how to continue practicing and applying the skills they learned from the program.
Through Empowers, NESsT and its network of funders and supporters are able to share with early-career professionals how the negative events that they have experienced in their lives do not have to limit their career options. But beyond that, we take the responsibility, as employers, to deconstruct the practices that lead to less diverse and equitable cultures at work.
NESsT Empowers was made possible by Mamo Pracuj Foundation and NESsT Foundation partners - BNY Mellon, Credit Suisse, and Sage.