Andrew Davey is the Young Enterprise Business Adviser at Educ8 Training. He talks about the new enterprise program and explains why mentoring young people is vital.
What is the Young Enterprise Program?
The ethos of the program is life skills and money management – learning through doing. I’m representing Educ8 as a mentor, to share my past knowledge and elements of my current role as a trainer coach. As an alumni member of the Young Enterprise Scheme, there was so much I could give back that prompted me to volunteer for the initiative.
What does your role as Young Enterprise Business Adviser involve?
I meet with learners and work with them on the young enterprise syllabus. We focus on money management, interpersonal skills, CV writing and more. Learners are supported with emotional and wellbeing issues. A key element of mentoring is helping a person determine their comfort zones. I question why they want to make their zone bigger and we discuss opportunities to stretch and challenge them.
Why is mentoring important?
Human nature means we are our own worst critic. As a mentor, I question and unpeel self-built barriers to help learners achieve their best work. I share my knowledge and past experiences – after working on three continents my life experience helps. Our learning comes from perspective and interpretation. I prompt the questions to get learners thinking and I am the sounding board for the ideas and questions that arise.
What impact do you hope to have on learners?
I hope to help people develop their critical thinking skills. We are bombarded with information, which is often draining, especially through social media. If I can help learners see different points of view before drawing conclusions, I feel I have done a great job.
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