MBA Mentoring Program
Posted on May 12th, 2014 by Jenny Frankel
Not all MBA programs are the same. One MBA program located in India is now changing the minds and hearts of its students through a mentor program that is connecting students from all different backgrounds.
The MBA program at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research now requires students to mentor children who live in some of India’s worst slums. As a requirement to obtain their masters in marketing or business, every two weeks MBA students dedicate two or three hours to mentoring these school children, giving them advice about their careers and hygiene, helping them with their homework, and talking to them about their lives and the problems they encounter living in poverty.
The program has had a positive effect for everyone involved; companies that have recruited graduates from this specific program have noted that this new batch of graduates are more humble and dedicated workers who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Meanwhile the school children have grown new confidence in themselves and their future, encouraging their family and neighbors to have higher expectations for themselves and what they can do with their lives.
SP Jain works with 65 local schools, each school provides four mentee-canidates, and then these groups of 12 to 13 year-olds go through a selection process and few dozen are chosen to participate in the mentoring program and receive some financial assistance. The graduate students who have participated in this program as they pursued their masters in marketing have commented that the experience has given them useful consumer insight that has better prepared them for a successful career in marketing.
Interested in learning more? Check out this article on how this mentoring program is helping MBA students and children alike.
