Alexander Gramatikov is the founder and project leader of Mentor the Young - a three-month free mentoring program that matches young people aged 18 to 25 with mentors with at least 5 years of professional experience.
In 16 months, from 46, in the pilot edition of the mentoring program, in this year's fourth edition, the participants reached 912.
In the past year 2022, he was selected in the "30 under 30" edition of Forbes, in the "Social Entrepreneurship" category, distinguishing young and innovative leaders under the age of 30.
Today, it is part of the Sigma Squared Society - a global community of 1000+ entrepreneurs with a mission to create a positive impact in the world.
I strongly believe in the transformative power of mentoring as I have experienced it first hand working with over 10 mentors over the past 5 years. On a personal level, I am actively involved in sports and I believe that quality care for ourselves is of particular importance to make everything else possible.
What is Mentor the Young and how did the idea come about?
Mentor the Young is a 3-month mentoring program that develops youth between the ages of 18 and 25, connecting them with an individual mentor with at least 5 years of experience.
During the first week of the program, each youth sets 3 personal, career, or entrepreneurial goals to accomplish during the program with the help, guidance, and resources of their mentor. The idea was born from my experience learning through the help of formal and informal mentors at crucial stages of my development.
How in 16 months, did 45 participants, in the first edition, reach 912 participants in the fourth season of the program?
When we wanted to check to what extent young Bulgarians would take advantage of the opportunity to work on their development with the help of an individual mentor, even our most optimistic forecasts did not predict such a rapid spread of the idea and demand for this way of learning among our peers.
Fortunately, the number of experienced professionals from a variety of fields who want to share their experience is also increasing with similar growth. People are talking about the program in their social circles as well as online, and it is thanks to this that we have the opportunity to promote mentoring in Bulgaria at this pace.
Who is the Mentor the Young program best for?
The program is suitable for young people between 18 and 25 years of age who want to work on achieving their entrepreneurial, professional, or personal goals, as well as professionals from various fields with at least 5 years of experience who would like to help them do so in the role to their individual mentors.
How can Mentor the Young be of maximum benefit to young people?
Mentor the Young puts people in touch with helpful professionalsto pass on experience from their practice, something that our education system still doesn't fully offer. In addition, one of the most key benefits is the community that is created - awake, ambitious, and intelligent people come together and form friendships and contacts that last long after the program ends.
Why should people apply for Mentors and Mentees?
The benefits for a mentor can be many, from impacting society to gaining new perspectives and developing new skills to being involved in a community and building relationships with other mentors. This is largely true of young people as well, who can add to this long list the acquisition of new skills, receiving specific advice and feedback, and setting many additional prerequisites for success in their career growth and personal development.
For the team behind it all, what is the biggest challenge at Mentor the Young?
The Mentor the Young team consists of six people who have also experienced first-hand the transformative power of mentoring. We all believe strongly in what we do! It's definitely important to us to ensure a quality experience for everyone involved, and at the scale of season four, that can be especially challenging, but we're working hard to make sure that's the case.
What goals do you have for the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 of the show?
Something very exciting aheadfor us in the foreseeable future is applying our mentoring expertise from the other side, and developing internal mentoring programs for companies looking for innovative ways to create and engage their workforce. Of course, with great motivation we continue the preparations for the fifth edition of the program, and we have yet to see how many participants there will be in the fall.
And finally - What can people do to help Mentor the Young continue to exist and exceed expectations with each passing edition? :)
As I already mentioned,all participants help grow the program completely organically by spreading it to their friends and sharing it on their social networks. Since the end of the third season, we have also opened a donation accountthrough which anyone who wishes can also support us - https://www.mentortheyoung.com/donate.
Mentor the young:
๐ Website: mentortheyoung.com
๐ Instagram: @mentortheyoung
๐ Facebook: @mentortheyoung
Alexander Gramatikov:
๐ LinkedIn: @alex-gramatikov
๐ Instagram: @grama.thick.ov
๐ Facebook: @alexander.gramatikov
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