Mentors as Described by Mentees

WBMI consists of specialists from a range of professional backgrounds. They offer their advice free of charge and are able to put their mentees' companies and their needs into the bigger picture. The mentors provide a conceptual tool kit of skills and competences, access to their networks, advice in their respective professional areas, the sharing of experiences, and psychological and technical preparation for the next steps in the growth of the mentee's company. WBMI mentors are men and women who have succeeded in their own careers and who wish to give back to society for what they have received themselves.

In 2015, WBMI mentored its fourth cohort of mentees.

Since it was launched, WBMI has directly mentored 40 women entrepreneurs from a wide range of business sectors and with companies of various sizes from 1 million euros to 30 million euros turnover. Through its network of mentors/mentees, WBMI has also had an influence on more than 50 companies, which have benefited from one-off advice. In addition, six WBMI mentees have been chosen to represent young French entrepreneurs at the G20 YES (Young Entrepreneur Summit) in Mexico, Moscow, and Sydney.

Although their businesses are very different, the mentees all have strategic goals to achieve, which the mentors support and facilitate. WBMI's mentors can often provide a better media presence, access to networks (media, finance, law, human resources), and preparation for the important steps to be taken in the growth of the mentee's company.

With WBMI, each entrepreneur, whatever her company's phase of development, has been through one or more growth phases: strategic, operational, financial, and so on. With her mentor, she clarifies her company's goals, its organization, and its outlook, and each mentee says she feels better prepared to face the challenges of growth.

Partnerships to Increase Action

In order to sustain and strengthen its support for women entrepreneurs, WBMI has, from the very beginning, sought partnerships with major players in the economic and financial worlds.

Together with BNP Paribas, WBMI runs the Club des Entrepreneurs, which offers a hundred or so female CEOs topic-based practical seminars with well-known professionals on every aspect of a company's life.

To meet any needs entrepreneurs may have, BNP Paribas and WBMI have also written a handbook on women's entrepreneurship, Entreprendre au feminin: mode d'emploi (Female Entrepreneurship: A User's Guide) published by Eyrolles (2014).

With ENGIE, WBMI has initiated numerous projects to support both entrepreneurship and mentoring for women inside the ENGIE group.

In addition, WBMI is in partnership with Medef, Federation Pionnieres (France's number one incubator for women entrepreneurs), and Paris Initiative Entreprise (PIE), which is very active in financing start-ups and corporate buy-outs.

Finally, to promote women's entrepreneurship and broaden its scope, WBMI, together with ENGIE, sponsors a weekly TV show (on BFM Business) called Ambitions d'entrepreneures (Ambitions of Women Entrepreneurs), and also sponsors a Day of Women's Entrepreneurship with BNP Paribas.

Circle of Women Entrepreneurs

WBMI plans to scale up and expand its skills base by developing close links with major groups (in partnership or other types of relationship) in order to sustain the association and to strengthen its brand.

Because of its culture, its mentors' career backgrounds, and the size of its own network, WBMI is in a position to provide a link between major groups and the entrepreneurs it mentors (all cohorts included), as well as with the SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and microbusinesses more generally.

This means a new organizational and communications model that uses social networking (see WBMI's page on LinkedIn). The new model will organize a constant stream of events, such as the Day of Women's Entrepreneurship, lunches with successful entrepreneurs (such as those organized at Stanford), publications, forums and blogs, television programs (see above), training days, and so on—all under the brand Le Cercle des Entrepreneures.

You're only 31 but you've been an entrepreneur for more than five years!

My very first professional experience was as a freelancer. I'd actually been a physiotherapist for four years, but I wanted to set up my own business, and I hit upon the right product at the right time! Monbento was the answer to one of my personal needs: to find something to carry my lunch in. One day, I discovered a Japanese lunch box called bento, which was very practical and aesthetically pleasing. Very quickly, I decided to sell my own lunch boxes by creating Monbento with my partner, a product designer, and a friend who was a web specialist. The company developed very quickly. We succeeded in creating a brand and launching ourselves on the international market: Monbento is now present in more than 40 countries, including the whole of Europe, North America, Brazil, and Asia. The product is adapted to each market—the American lunch box for example—brought up to date with a touch of design. We even have a community that follows us on the Internet, where we also share recipes.

Have you had any mentoring?

My partner had set up a company before me, and so I'd already seen the different steps in the launching of a business. Just before we launched Monbento, I went to the information space called Jeunes de Clermont-Ferrand to help me to draw up a business plan. Since then, I haven't had the time to get involved in a network, but as I work with my partner, I've never had the feeling of isolation, because we discuss things a lot. And don't forget that I'm very involved in the operational side of things. I never thought that I might welcome being able to talk about different problems, the strategy of Monbento, etc., with someone who had already been through the same steps. Having said that, at that time, I had not met any particular problems, and no specific step was therefore required. But with hindsight, I now know that it would have been a good thing to do. And that's why, at the beginning of 2014, I joined the network of Femmes Chefs d'Entreprise (FCE), who contacted me after meeting me at a Paris trade fair.

Why did you want a mentor?

There again, it's something that someone suggested to me. I took part in a competition—the Prix Jeunes Entrepreneurs of the future—and was chosen to participate in the G20 of Young Entrepreneurs.¹ There I met one of the WBMI mentors, Annie Combelles, who encouraged me to apply for the mentoring program. It was a good time to do it because of the growth phase the company was in and because of where I was in my role as chief executive.

What were your needs?

Monbento grew very quickly, particularly in terms of staff. We were going through a head office reorganization in Clermont-Ferrand and creating two subsidiaries abroad: one in the United States and the other in Hong Kong. I wanted this to succeed, wanted to place the right people in the right positions and to sort out all the problems. The choice of mentor was made with these needs in mind. WBMI thought about mentors who could manage the HR question and the issues of international growth, and suggested I meet Jean-Jacques Berard. The mentoring started at the beginning of 2014 and continued throughout the year. We saw each other once a month, but I know he's always ready to work with me between meetings.

How did your first work meeting go?

Simply: we began by a discussion to analyze where Monbento was and where I was as CEO. We identified different issues and decided on the important areas to look at. Straightaway we formed a good relationship, which is essential because the success of mentoring depends on the quality of the mentor/mentee relationship. I trusted Jean-Jacques and felt no obstacle to communication, which might seem astonishing!

What were the key mentoring moments for your professional career?

Mentoring is useful because it allows you to verbalize what you've got in your head. The mentor doesn't give you a solution or say what you have to do, but helps you to clarify the questions about the company's structure so as to find the key issues or identify the right people. On certain topics, I already had quite a clear vision, and that strengthened my self-confidence. To know that other people have been through the same steps also reassured me. In any case, an entrepreneur needs support, needs to be able to discuss with other chief executives, particularly when the entrepreneur isn't part of a network or has nobody in their team of equal stature. But in my view, young entrepreneurs don't think about mentoring straight off. If someone had offered me a mentoring program, I would probably not have done it, even though it's beneficial today and for the future.

What advice would you give to a woman thinking about following mentoring?

It's easy to hook up with a local network of entrepreneurs, and you can find it in your town or region. And even if they don't offer mentoring, it's useful to surround yourself with other chief executives who have already been through the steps, and above all, not to consider it as a waste of time—rather the contrary!

Your professional career is full of executive management experiences…

An engineer by training, I started my career at Radiall in Germany, before attending Stanford, where I gained an MBA. I then returned to Paris and joined McKinsey, a major American consultancy firm, and then the management of Merlin Gerin in Grenoble, which subsequently became Schneider Electric. At this time, in the 1980s, I set up my first company developing a new product of small metal hoses for microcomputing. Today, this company is worth a billion euros! After eight years, I decided to join the Pinault Group, and for two years I headed up an industrial subsidiary in Vendee. Pinault sold off its industrial subsidiaries in 1992, and I stayed on for a few months with the new American buyers before moving to EIM (Executive Interim Management), at the end of 1993. In 1995, together with a few colleagues, we took over the company and renamed it Excellence in Management in order to develop a new concept: change management. Today, EIM has 15 offices around the world and is market leader. Finally in 2009, I set up CSM Consult, a firm specializing in personalized consultancy to managers or shareholders to advise them on the critical steps in the growth of a company.

Why did you decide to become a mentor?

I've always done mentoring because at EIM, I supported a number of CEOs as they took over their posts. To be a mentor in WBMI is part of this work. I set up the Stanford Business Club in 1979, and was president several times. Then I asked Martine Liautaud to take over the presidency. When she had the idea of setting up WBMI, I agreed to be one of the mentors as I really want to help young people! I've always been an entrepreneur: even when I set up my first company within Merlin Gerin, it came to me naturally. Of course, I made mistakes, but you learn through talking with others. It's a shame that, in France, entrepreneurship is not valued. In the United States on the contrary, and especially for all of us who went to Stanford, the desire to set up a company is very strong. I received an injection over there, which led to a reaction. Since then, I've looking for a way to encourage entrepreneurship in France because it can improve the country for future generations.

Were you trained in how to be a mentor before starting to do it?

I learned on the job, as it were, through meetings at work. Our WBMI values were created as and when needed, through a sort of natural co-option, and our aim, at present, is to increase the number of mentees. Each mentee is chosen by a panel on the strength of her application, and the mentor/mentee pairs are created by affinity. The mentor must feel at ease with the context in which the mentee works, without necessarily knowing the mentee herself. Then a discussion between two potential mentors and the candidate takes place, and they talk about her business and her reasons for applying for mentoring. We then decide who the mentor will be, and, of course, the mentee can ask for a different person. That's what I mean by natural co-option. So we have a structure, but one that still remains informal.

Since 2000, you've mentored three entrepreneurs

I had strong professional relationships with them, even friendship. With each mentoring, I think that I made the mentee take another step forward. The first mentee had a business that was working reasonably well, so I directed my mentoring more to her than to her company. After this mentoring, she changed her career as I had helped her to become aware that it was never too late. The second mentee ran a sales training company, Booster Academy—Evelyne Platnic Cohen is a phenomenon, top of her game. The mentoring was a little special because she knew where she wanted to go, and it required a great deal of tact to mentor this very responsive hyperactive mentee who displayed a lot of leadership qualities! I adapted to this mentoring by listening to Evelyne without asking her to do anything, since any decisions had to come from her. I helped her to have a vision and a strategy for her company and to imagine the organization by rising above the operational level. There are two reasons to set up a company: for oneself and for others. The second option assumes ambition and power sharing to be able to grow. Entrepreneurship is not an individual sport, but a collective one. Evelyne is a woman of results, someone who knows how to reach the goal. I currently mentor Emilie Creuzieux. She's also a very ambitious leader, blessed with extraordinary drive and great potential. Mentoring her is not straightforward because she is very down to earth and acts quickly. We have a relationship of great trust. I guide her in strategy, and give her theoretical grounding in management and how to run a company, in order to give her reference points. She is keen to learn, intuitive, and understands very quickly. She loves a challenge, fears nothing and moves ahead quickly. I admire her a lot! I see no limits to her progress…sometimes I'd like to be in her place!

What have been the key moments in these experiences?

I'm proud of having put my first mentee back on track as a person, and of helping the second to adopt a more communal approach by finding organizational links and helping her to develop a network of franchises. Finally, I am proud that my third mentee has responded so well to my advice. A company is three things: the product, the people, and the process—what I call the 3Ps; over it all is strategy. In Emilie's company, there are too many products, not enough people and no processes. She understood this very quickly and correcting it became her priority. She started to aim for performance with more cohesion in her staff in order to produce profitable growth.

Have there been any difficulties?

You can't come to mentoring with a method worked out in advance. Mentoring is not for beginners. You have to find the right method for each person and each company. The mentor sees what he can bring to the relationship depending on his own experience. Mentoring is a really customized activity.

What have you gained from these experiences?

I've had an excellent experience because it's a pleasure to see others succeed and to do something. I thought I knew women, but in reality I didn't know them well enough professionally. The women I've mentored are professional and, when convinced, are results oriented, without doubt more than men on average. On the other hand, they have difficulty conceptualizing or having a long-term vision. That makes me to think about how to get the most out of the male/female mentoring relationship—from a managerial perspective—so that it could become a new way to improve the company performance.

Before going into the magazine world, you had a brilliant career in marketing…

After ESSEC, I joined Danone in 1987 as Assistant Product Manager for Kronenbourg. I first worked in Greece for a beer brand that the group had taken over, and then became head of the group at Evian where I piloted the relaunch of the brand. Later, in 1995, I was appointed director of the Heudebert brand, where I led the negotiation campaigns with two buying groups, before taking over as head of Marketing and Development at Volvic, and then of the whole group that was formed out of Volvic's merger with Evian. I left Danone for Well in 1998. I was beginning to think increasingly about the place of women in society and I wanted to do something. At the start of my forties, when I had just had my second child, I made my decision and set up my company “50 etc.” I wanted to offer a box of samples to women over 50, similar to the box of samples that new mothers receive on the birth of their child, but within the context of breast cancer screening. The regional test worked well, but I couldn't persuade the brands to do a national launch. That spurred me to directly address women, and in 2011 I created Femme Majuscule aimed at women aged 45 to 50 and older. I started from the fact that, by the end of 2014, 50 percent of women in France would be aged around 50 or older. In creating this magazine I was going against the tide, which is thrilling but hard work—a little like attacking a mountain with a teaspoon. When you read Femme Majuscule, you find women who look like you—they're all at least 40 years old, including the models. The aim is to motivate women to keep going and not get demoralized by the pervading images of youth that surround us. With Femme Majuscule, I feel I'm participating in a change in our society. I feel a great satisfaction when readers write and say they feel “capital women” and thank us for what we've done for them!

Before turning to a mentor, had you been supported in any way before?

Not to speak of, apart from having a coach when I was on the steering committee of Well. He coached me through a difficult patch; when you're at the head of a company, you can be assailed by doubts, but you can't always speak to the members of your team or to friends, since neither are really there for that reason. I am sometimes overwhelmed by crises, and I lose my vision for the company; then in 2011 Dominique Maire, a friend and mentor at WBMI, told me about the association, which had just been founded. But I didn't take the plunge. Then one day it became clear—what was I waiting for? Perhaps I was afraid of disturbing people or of not being interesting enough? But now I know that Dominique was right to speak to me about it.

What did you need to get out of mentoring?

My husband, who is a CEO, helped me, financially, to launch the project. But after three years he asked me to become financially independent, which is fair enough. This was like an electric shock—but it did me good. I had to ask myself if I'd made the right choices, if my business model was sound, how I could raise funds. I needed to be a bit more objective, to find a new vision and to be reassured, above all in the face of bad advisors…so I joined WBMI, and they helped me to find the right path; Eve Magnant became my mentor in May 2013.

What did you learn from her?

She's my Jiminy Cricket! I'm always happy to see her, she's like a breath of fresh air that inspires me! Eve keeps an experienced eye on me. She gives me the energy I need to keep going. Sometimes, when I'm at the end of my tether, I call her, and she reassures me by pointing out how far I've come, and other things that I may have lost sight of. She also knows how to push me, ever so nicely, by reminding me that I haven't done such and such that I said I'd do. She also makes me get out of my little bubble and tell the world what I'm doing. I feel very free with her these days. We see each other every 10 or 15 days, and I contact her whenever I need to. She gives me back my self-confidence and reminds me that what I do is valuable and important for women—and for advertisers, who are not always easy to persuade! You see, those first three really busy years at the start made me lose sight of the value—mine as well as the project's—especially in the fast-changing magazine sector. But more than simply a magazine, Femme Majuscule is a partner to women; and therefore I need the means to scale it up. My mentor has opened doors for me, made me meet people. A virtuous circle has been started. And because of that, I'm beginning to see how digital could help me. Internet is a real challenge for Femme Majuscule and may be able to deliver services I wanted to deliver at the start. Overall, I feel a lot more comfortable about where I'm going!

What were the key moments in your professional life?

For example, for the March 2014 anniversary edition, I had a lot of reviews in the media (radio, press, etc.), and this success is closely linked to Eve and WBMI. Their care and lack of any vested interest are crucial. I feel that my mentor, together with all the WBMI team, want to put entrepreneurs into the limelight so that they take their rightful place in the economy. I've become aware that sometimes you just have to go for it, even if you're not completely ready, because it's better to throw yourself into something than to miss the boat.

What has this experience brought you?

I hope that it's not over yet! There's still a way to go. In 2013, I said that I'd never manage it, I was ready to call it a day. This feeling has now gone, and I know I'll find a way forward. Today the magazine is better known, and our subscriptions are on the increase. I feel reassured, even if the adventure is still complex. And I have beliefs that I'm happy to tell the world; I feel more armed and more certain about things. Many women can't speak for themselves, so I tell myself that through Femme Majuscule I can be someone who speaks for them. If you really want to change the world, you can't accept all the male values! Diversity has benefits for both men and women, in their lives as well as in their work. And you have to remember that generations live together with values, with desires, with different projects… Mentoring helps to bridge these gaps, because there's no vested interest, unlike coaching, which is based on a financial contract, although it has its place. In any case, if I succeed with my project, I dream of becoming a mentor in my turn, to pass on what I have learned to the next generation—especially the next generation! I now feel a responsibility to help others.

What is your professional career to date?

I did a degree in sociology in Paris, then I did two master's, one in political sciences and the other in communications. As I was coming up to my forties, I did an Executive MBA at HEC. In terms of work, after three years in a small communications agency I joined Publicis where I've been for 23 years now. At Publicis, I've done three jobs. The first was operational, I was Corporate and Crisis Communications Advisor to major groups for 12 years; then I took a functional role as director of the Group's Corporate Communications. Since 2007, I've been director of the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility.

Did you want to be a mentor, or did someone suggest it to you?

I wanted to do it because I've been mentoring different groups for 10 years or so already: young graduates with diverse backgrounds, women from the European Professional Women's Network (EPWN), and Publicis employees. I am also a member of several networks such as EPWN, HEC, HEC/AFIP (an association aimed at supporting professional integration), and WCD (Women Corporate Directors) among others; in addition, I started up an internal network of women working in Publicis Groupe some years ago, called VivaWomen!, driving several activities to support our women in their career path, including a mentoring program.

What motivated you to become a mentor?

Within WBMI, we have always worked, together with Martine Liautaud, from the fact that women entrepreneurs, already fewer in number that men, are in even more need of support than men and should not find themselves alone. Yet it is difficult to find support, which is free of charge, caring, and with no vested interest. As a company manager, I know how important it is to have someone with whom you can speak freely, without constraints, on a range of subjects, and sometimes to receive advice. Our only aim is to help our mentees to achieve their goals. Before agreeing to be a mentor at WBMI, I was made aware of my role in order to clarify what a mentor is, and what it is not.

How was your mentee chosen?

WBMI's selection panel chose Femme Majuscule, a bimonthly magazine for women, on objective criteria: it was a company more than three years old, founded by a woman, with important development issues. We also knew how daring the project was in that it was a woman founder of a magazine aimed at women between 45 and 50 years old. It's not only relevant (in terms of the demographic) but also quite bold because the press is going through a difficult period in France at the moment… As it was media, my profession made me Muriele Roos's natural mentor. It's important to remember that WBMI is also an internal network: there are 12 mentors with different professional backgrounds and different areas of expertise. One of us is the main mentor and closest to the mentee, and the other mentors are resources to whom we can turn whenever there is a specific need. This extended support is very important and is our distinguishing feature.

How was the first meeting with Muriele?

We started with a very long meeting in the editorial offices of Femme Majuscule in the eighteenth district of Paris; we looked at all the issues, the questions, the priorities…and we got to know each other. Mentoring is first and foremost about the meetings. Our meetings need to be effective and pleasant, and without constraints! This experience, which is still underway, is supposed to last a year, but you have to be aware of the nature of the issues, which sometimes take longer to deal with.

What are the highlights of this experience?

Each new issue of Femme Majuscule is a source of joy, and it's very infectious! Muriele has moments of intense satisfaction, and rightly so: when she talks to her readers at a trade fair, for example, she gets the impression that her magazine is responding to an expectation…or when Femme Majuscule writes about something quite daring, different from what you might read elsewhere, and the mail to the magazine is full of thanks. And she's had a number of productive meetings, which have helped her directly and indirectly.

Have there been any difficulties?

There are moments of discouragement, which are quite understandable because Muriele is alone when facing difficulties. Even though she has a small but effective team, she is the decision maker and the person responsible; she has to make 100 decisions a day, from the simplest (buying light bulbs) to the more difficult: an advertiser decides to shift his advertising campaign at the last minute, and it affects more than a fourth of the coverage at the deadline! Happily, she finds a solution. My job is to support her at each of these times and to understand each situation and Muriele's state of mind, and to help her to find a way to move forward in the right direction…this is not always easy because an entrepreneur's life is like doing the hurdles. So the mentor is certainly not a passive spectator! Even though it's the mentor who guides the entrepreneur in how to jump the hurdles, it's nevertheless the entrepreneur herself who has to jump them.

What has this experience brought you?

It might seem trite to say that it's brought me great richness at a human level, but it's true. The meetings we had gave me the opportunity to think about new subjects but also to make me question my usefulness and my role. And nothing is prescribed: we have had to create the path for Femme Majuscule. Every path seems wide and long before you take it, but the access route is steep! For my part, I want to continue as a mentor, as each project is unique and interesting. As an employee, I admire entrepreneurs like Muriele a lot, her vision and her tenacity, and her project seems to me to be just right.

How did you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I got into this after college and after doing management consulting for a few years; one day I read an article in the New York Times about the AIDS epidemic in China; basically all the blood they collected was pooled together and separated, and the red blood cells were re-injected back into everyone's bodies, and as a result, 60 to 80 percent of the adult population was HIV positive. When I read the article, a light bulb in my head went off, and I realized we were some of the luckiest people in the world, and I could have easily been born into a different life where I could have contracted this fatal disease. At that point, I felt very strongly about it so I quit my job and, over the next two years helped out students—we sponsored their education fees, but more importantly, the Chinese government stepped up, providing re-education and free medication for everyone that was testing positive. And I met a group of people who were dedicated and passionate and able to effect social change in a big way. But from my experience, and through my experience with an equipment foundation in Tanzania, I saw many people lose their lives because they weren't able to adapt medicine or technology, and it was really frustrating to see that. And so I decided it would be my personal mission to try to bridge this huge disparity that I saw in health care and, in effect, to try to democratize health care for the poor people of the world.

So Embrace started while I was at business school. The program brought together people from different masters programs, and we were asked to work on a technology project that would help people who had to live on a dollar a day. And the challenge at the time, for my team, was to build a baby incubator that cost 1 percent of the cost a traditional incubator cost, which was about $20,000. So we travelled to Nepal, and India, and we discovered that one of the biggest problems they face is that the incubators require a constant supply of electricity and they're very difficult to operate and require many things that you don't find in rural areas. So we developed an incubator with wax in the lining that uses hot water or a short burst of electricity to heat the wax, and it heats up to the right temperature, which is retained for eight hours.

The product is great—but how did you go from developing the product as a business school project to actually creating the company?

I've always believed that when you find your calling, the universe conspires to help you achieve it. And that has happened again and again in my own life—and so along the way, I found incredible resources. I didn't require any job since I was in my second year of business school; and with my team we entered every business competition to get the money, and we actually did not win most of them, but a few days before I graduated, we won two competitions on the same day. That gave us the money to start, and the rest was just figuring it out along the way. We had the strategy in place, and we had the team, and we were really open minded about how things would go, and we had an idea of where our destination would be, but the way you're going to get there is going to vary—and you have to be very opportunistic in your approach to how to get to your destination. So we faced, of course, many barriers along the way—it was, you know, it was grueling—I remember India (after we graduated I lived in India for the next four years), and it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Starting a business in India is—there's good and bad but you can't imagine how difficult it is in terms of bureaucracy—nothing goes the way it's supposed to there, it's incredibly frustrating, but a couple of things helped me. One was having the support of an amazing group of people—I had advisors along the way—advisors in India, advisors in the United States and in Stanford with a bunch of really powerful alumni—people that were connected in India. And those people were so incredibly helpful in introducing us to the right people, getting things off the ground. I've had personal mentors along the way. And then I think the other thing that was really important as an entrepreneur is to be relating your purpose. I think that when you're doing something that means so much to you, it's very helpful, because when things get really hard, and there are many moments when you want to quit, you just ask yourself if this is worth it. And for me, when I go back through the stories and the babies we helped, and the mothers we helped, when things are hard, I reflect on the people and the moments and why I am doing all of this, and that gives me the strength to keep going.

In those moments of despair, is it your own reflections, or are there people who helped you through?

Yes, there's no way that I could have done what I did alone. There were many people along the way and to be honest, some of them were excited enough to join us; many people left their jobs in the United States, people who were so talented: my co-founders, people who joined us for six months or a year, some of the brightest people I've ever had the chance to work with—joining a cause—and that gives you a tremendous amount of energy. They all had remarkable backgrounds: I'd often look around the room and think, if we can't solve this problem, then I don't know who can!

So yes, absolutely, mentorship, but I think you have to have that inner compass as well, you know, that true north. In India, there were always people around, but I think having that moral compass and being able to remind yourself why you were so convinced to do something in the first place. You know, sometimes I think you lose sight of that, and you get caught up in the leaves trying to make numbers or payroll, and you can decide it's not worth it—unless you believe in that inner compass.

What advice would you give to other women entrepreneurs when they meet obstacles?

Well, as I said earlier, there are a couple of things; think about why you're doing what you're doing. The other thing is that, as a CEO, you might think, I should be this, I should be that, I should be top—but after a while I realized that the best CEOs, the best leaders, are the ones that find their own way, their own style. You know, the work I do is inherently emotional, so exhibit your emotions. You know, one time, I can't remember exactly what it was, I was really troubled by something, and I cried in front of my team, and I was mortified—it was the first time I'd ever cried in front of my team, and you know what, one of my team, my COO, came up to me afterwards and he thanked me and he said, “Thank you so much for doing that, because when you show your vulnerability, other people can as well.” Showing your vulnerability, showing people who you are—that allows people to connect with you and believe in you as a leader.

And the other thing I'd say is focus on your own happiness. For a long time, I thought that if I could just get Embrace in place, then I could focus on my own happiness in my personal life. Then I read this wonderful article about managers and leaders who are happy, their teams perform so much better because the happiness of a leader is contagious, kind of powerful—and I realized that if I'm happy, and have that balance, then that makes them much better leaders.

Can you tell me briefly about your business career?

I've only recently left university, on a sort of self-directed gap year. I basically learnt to code with an organization called Code First: Girls,² sponsored by the City of London and Royal Bank of Scotland. It aims to give girls an introduction to coding and the tech world in general—what the tech ecosystem is and how can you get into it. That was in the summer of 2013, and ever since then I've been hooked. I started to learn to code and do weekly coding practice, and then I had this idea for RouteMap—but had no way of creating it at that time. So I went back to university and started to look for funding opportunities—different grants and accelerator programs. I pitched my idea to my mentor at the time, and he loved it, and he was more than happy to come on board with me. So when I left university again, in April last year, we officially started RouteMap and by December had been accepted into the Wayra UnLtd Accelerator, backed by Telefonica.³

Do you feel there are any obstacles to women setting up businesses—or even just working—in the tech industry?

My background was not technical. I did economics and had originally planned to do Chinese studies—tech wasn't my thing. The tech industry is often pitched as a boys' world—the common perception of the start-up world is computer geek boys eating pizza and drinking beer, which can be off-putting for females who don't feel they belong in that scene. I think the biggest obstacle to women (and men) setting up businesses in this industry is how much people mythicize the stories of successful entrepreneurs. Men like Jobs and Zuckerberg are put on these unreachable pedestals, where their successes are the only part of their stories that people focus on, and that can add undue pressure to founders to be perfect from the start. I still find it hard to accept the fact that I will inevitably make mistakes, and, as an entrepreneur, it's hard to keep yourself motivated to keep asking for help.

People often say that women undersell themselves, and I think in business I do that quite a bit. I think it can be very hard because, as soon as you start up a business, it's constant pitching. Whether you even realize it or not, you're constantly trying to sell yourself, your story, your team, your idea. And you have to be—sometimes as a woman in front of an all-male panel—very sure of yourself and your abilities—very sure of your ability to lead a team and to turn this idea into something that can be profitable and viable. I felt I had to be better than the guys, because there are some men that you meet, who can be quite dismissive of women when they come up against you in competitions or accelerators. If you internalize that, it will make you worry that you're not good enough to be there, or, as I said, you default into underselling yourself and your skills.

So what's the way around that?

The way around that—first and foremost, everyone says it changes with time—experience shows you that you are good enough to be here and you grow more confident. But before you get all that experience, you need people who have had that experience to reassure you and remind you that you should be confident in yourself. I guess that's where a mentor comes into the equation.

Governments and corporations across the globe are trying to encourage girls into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and coding in separate programs like the one I completed. These do have an impact, but I think the best way to help women feel more able to participate is to highlight the stories of other female engineers and entrepreneurs. Hearing about successful women, both the struggles and breakthroughs in their careers, can be one of the best inspirations.

Have you had any mentoring yourself?

I've had a lot of mentoring—not only through formal programs that I've applied to but also informally networking with people that I've met—in banking, when I interned at UBS, Deutsche Bank and Barclays, as well as programs supporting young people to apply to Cambridge. We recently got into the top 20 for a competition called iDEA (Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award) backed by HRH The Duke of York,⁴ which aims to help young people set up tech businesses. So yesterday in fact I met my mentor—I was very nervous about meeting him—but we have a weekly breakfast meeting, so that we can develop my pitch and prepare for the finals. Before our first meeting, I mapped out the different components of our business model, as well as the assumptions we've made about our target market and tried to identify our weak points. We went through it together and used it to make a plan of how we'll get through each of those areas over the next six weeks that we'll work together. This mentoring mainly focuses on my business needs.

On a more personal level, I have an informal mentor whom I met before I applied to the accelerator program. I literally Googled everybody and anybody who was connected to the UnLtd where I won my first business grant, and I found a woman called Natalie Campbell,⁵ who runs a company called A Very Good Company, and I literally sent her a tweet saying, “Hello. You do X, Y, Z. Will you have a coffee with me?” And she agreed. She's just been amazing. I think a week before we did the final pitch to get into this accelerator program, I emailed her, and I was like, “I don't know what I'm doing; I'm so nervous my pitch doesn't sound good enough, it's not a minute long or whatever it had to be.” And she said “Okay. Stop. Come and meet me, and let's talk through it.” And she gave me practical advice on the pitch; she is just a very reassuring person—again it's saying small things like “Don't worry. You'll be fine. You know you can do this. You've done X, Y, Z.” Helping to remind you of your past successes and therefore bolstering your self-confidence.

How would you assess mentoring?

As an entrepreneur, mentoring is the best help you can get. I'm a big fan of Tai Lopez, who argues that even if you can't find access to a mentor, some of the world's greatest minds are instantly accessible to us through books and videos, and that still counts as a form of mentoring. For me, especially being as young as I am, mentors effectively are wise sounding boards I can turn to for decision making or just to know that I'm on the right track. Eventually, some of these relationships have become more formalized as people opt to become advisors for the business, and the expertise and networks they bring to the table are a big help.

What advice would you give to other women entrepreneurs?

Whenever you go into business, you're always told to look for people in your industry or field that you admire. The whole point of that is to learn from them. If you're able to get a mentoring relationship, whether formal or informal, it's the perfect opportunity to learn from somebody, because they can help you avoid some of the big pitfalls that they've had and also share the ways that they've found success, different approaches they've taken, lessons that they've learned—they can pass that all on to you, and you're able to benefit from their experience. But also, they're sharing your journey with you as you continue. They're people to celebrate with and people to share your disappointments with and people to help you wake up the next day and continue. I think everybody talks about the glamorous side of business, but they don't know how hard it can be sometimes, how isolating it can be—even if you have a business partner, because it gets hard and you need people who can just pep you up. A mentor is never meant to be perfect, just another human who you feel that you can learn something from. Be bold in reaching out to people, share your story, and in time try and pass on the lessons you've learned to someone else.

What advice might you give a girl going into the tech industry?

The best piece of advice I was given was to not pressure yourself to know everything straightaway. With tech, there are so many things to learn, and there always will be because of updates in technology. I think girls, if you feel like you have a point to prove, you want to show the boys that you know everything and you can do this and do that, and be independent and build or code or do things for yourself, you have to remember that it's no fault to your character if you don't know things—as long as you show a willingness to learn. And again, it's to your mentors that you show that willingness, because they're able to teach you the skills or point you in the right direction for information. Don't be scared of the boys, I'd say, because some people talk themselves up a bit, and everybody was a beginner, boy or girl, at some time. As long as you know where you stand, skill-wise, confidence-wise, etc., you say, This is the point that I'm at; and these are the targets I'm aiming for; and these are the skills I need to build to get there. And you just need to find ways to do that.