2. The Mowgli Foundation - Annual Review June 1 - Dec 31 2011 www.mowgli.org.uk
Welcome to the
Mowgli Foundation’s
Annual Report 2011
2011 was a year of growth, development, and exciting new
“Meeting new business people from different sectors and different opportunities for Mowgli in the Middle East and North Africa region
(MENA). I am proud to introduce our 2011 Report and share with our
backgrounds, at my Mowgli training workshops in 2011, taught me supporters how far we have come in building a strong programme of
a lot. Now, I have 2 mentees who I am very proud of. The Mowgli mentoring for entrepreneurs.
experience provides unique opportunities for both mentors and Many initiatives in MENA have made progress in 2011, despite the
region’s economic challenges and political turmoil. We launched 8
mentees: I believe that the time invested with both my mentees was new mentoring programmes this year, supporting 81 entrepreneurs, in
addition to continuing our ongoing programmes of support in Lebanon,
fruitful not just for them but for me as well. I consider that mentoring Jordan and Syria. Mowgli also engaged with key decision makers in
is a pillar, if not one of the most important pillars in improving the region: the World Economic Forum’s Special Meeting on Economic
Growth & Job Creation in the Arab World was a key event for us. We
entrepreneurship in Jordan.” have continued to focus on developing the strong partnerships we
have across MENA. The huge challenge we now face is the same one
that was the initial reason for Mowgli’s inception: how can we, and our
partners, support and re-generate local economies, create employment,
Nidal Bitar and strengthen enterprising eco-systems across MENA? Our answer, of
course, is training mentors and matching them with entrepreneurs who
CEO of SCOPI / Board Member of our partner, Young Entrepreneurs Association Jordan
have potential. We have achieved some fantastic milestones in 2011,
which will move us closer to our vision of placing mentoring at the heart
of leadership development and encouraging local business communities
to build their own enterprise support networks.
One such milestone is that in 2011 we were successful in securing
the support of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office for four
mentoring programmes in Jordan. We would like to extend our thanks to
Nada Jreissati Daher: the British Embassy in Jordan, and to all our Jordanian supporters, and
hope that we can continue this successful partnership in the future. The
“It was a great Body Shop Foundation was another generous donor to our cause, and
we would like to thank them for supporting a group of Lebanese women
experience, the through the Mowgli programme in 2011. We would like to also thank
matching was great. key partners in each country - Berytech in Lebanon, the Syrian Young
Entrepreneur’s Association, and the Young Entrepreneur’s Association in
The tools and hints my Jordan for their on-going support.
mentor gave me were
The achievements of the inspirational entrepreneurs and mentors we
mind blowing. I hope work with at Mowgli are, however, the most important highlight of this
Mowgli Foundation (UK/Head Office) Mowgli Jordan that next year I will Report. I would like to invite you to read on and hear some of their
success stories in their own words.
The 3rd Floor Care of: Young Entrepreneurs Association be on the other side
Bush House King Abdullah ll Street, King Hussein Business Park helping entrepreneurs.” I am looking forward to another year where we help more entrepreneurs
across MENA fulfil their potential through mentoring.
72 Prince Street Bldg.10 First Floor
Bristol PO Box 1652 Mentee, Lebanon programme,
BS1 4QD, UK Amman 11821, Jordan November 2011 Andrew Fischer
Tel: +44 (0)1179 292 540 Tel: +962 6 580 5379 Chair of Mowgli Foundation
Email: info@mowgli.org.uk Fax: +962 6 580 5375
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3. The Mowgli Foundation - Annual Review June 1 - Dec 31 2011
Tony Bury - Founder
and Trustee, Mowgli
Foundation
“Investing in the development Mowgli provides mentors who can make a real impact and these
mentors also fill some of the gaps that exist, in supporting at a personal
of future entrepreneurial level the leaders of tomorrow - entrepreneurs. In the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region, despite a year of political and economic
leaders is the key to uncertainty, the results you see in these pages from all our mentors
supporting sustainable and mentees show that mentoring has a real impact on the capacity
of individuals to succeed. Importantly, our mentees have created jobs,
economic growth in MENA.” and will continue to create jobs. This is the reason I founded Mowgli:
after doing business in MENA countries for so many years, one cannot
remain unaware of the need that these small businesses have for advice
and support, or of the massive challenge of unemployment, particularly
amongst young people. Our mentors also experience immense
satisfaction from mentoring, as well as taking important learning and
leadership skills back to their working life. Our hope is that mentoring
helps to build human capital within businesses across the region.
There is now great opportunity in the MENA region to continue our
work, and put entrepreneurial leadership at the heart of the community
development and economic growth that we and our partners are
working hard to support. But entrepreneurial leadership, we believe at
Mowgli, will only have a lasting impact with a key ingredient included: a
‘mentoring culture’, driven by local needs at the community level which
gives successful people an opportunity to ‘pay it forward’. This is why
Mowgli’s informal motto is ‘to serve is to lead.’
The Mowgli Foundation is making plans now to expand and roll out
our work across new countries in the MENA region, with a number
Bahaa Dababneh, Mentor: of exceptional partners who share our vision of a healthy eco-system
Although in the past I was doing some of support for the entrepreneurs they work with on the ground. We
coaching and mentoring as part of my work have now begun training local leaders to deliver our programmes in
at the Bank, when I attended Mowgli‘s Arabic and French, a major step towards sustainability of Mowgli’s
fantastic training program in Jordan, I programmes, and we will be launching in a number of new countries in
discovered that what I was doing was right the next few months. There is still plenty of work to be done in 2012,
but needed some tuning. I believe that my however. If you are reading this in any one of the MENA countries,
mentee Mohammed’s current success and I can guarantee there are entrepreneurs who need mentoring in a
progress reflects my support and my help. community near you. We need companies, individual business leaders
He and I have become close friends in a and public sector bodies at every level of enterprise support and within
short period of time, and I believe in his the business community to help Mowgli and our mentors to support
business too- I try and promote it wherever entrepreneurs to make a difference. Please do get in touch with us and
I go. But I have also felt a personal impact find out how you can help.
from the mentoring experience: I feel that I
can communicate my opinions better to my My congratulations to all the exceptional Mowgli entrepreneurs who
colleagues and to people in my personal life, have achieved so much this year, and to the inspirational mentors who
and I started to change my way of thinking volunteered their time to help them succeed - without you, Mowgli’s
and to take more mature decisions. I also feel work simply would not be possible. On behalf of the Mowgli team,
ready to be more positive, to treat negative thank you all for your dedication and drive, and we look forward to
happenings with a positive approach; and working with you again in 2012.
I feel ready to play a part in my community
and share my stories with others.
Tony Bury
Founder and Trustee, Mowgli Foundation
Infographic created by Mowgli Graduate -
Feb 2011 WonderEight.com
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4. The Mowgli Foundation - Annual Review June 1 - Dec 31 2011 www.mowgli.org.uk
Our Impact
Istanbul, Cairo, and in the UK from the Greater
2011. We launched a further two programmes in Jordan Manchester area and the South West.
and the UK in January 2012.
entrepreneurs who completed their year.
entrepreneurs in the Middle East since 2009, and 19 UK
entrepreneurs since 2010.
in 2010 (and has been completed) created 10 jobs. On
average each mentee on 2010 programmes created at
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the UK. least 1.5 jobs.
within the 8 countries, including Beirut, Ramallah, Amman, created 118 jobs between them in MENA and the UK.
Jericho, Irbid, Damascus, Aleppo, Aqaba, Karak, Tunis,
Programmes that ended in 2011: Ramzi Ghurani:
“Mowgli has simply
the programme and 88% felt the programme
was beneficial to them and their business. changed my life and
helped give me the focus
for at least six months. 69% of relationships
continued with regular contact for one year. and clarity to succeed.”
the mentee feels they have moved from being a
‘mentee’ to an equal or a peer.
Mowgli Jordan Mentee, Oct 2011
Mentee Case Study “When I applied for the Mowgli programme, I was quite cynical
about what I might get out of it - I’ve been in business 20
years, and I know my industry inside out. But in other ways
12 months will continue keeping in touch with
their mentor on an unofficial basis. - Kashef Ahmad I was actually desperate for some sort of outside help, to
release the pressure of all the ideas, risks and decisions you’re
considering constantly as a business owner. I quickly lost my
cynical approach on the matching weekend. The whole thing
Kashef Ahmad is the Founder of the Taxi was unexpectedly inspirational - we (the mentors and mentees)
Academy, a training centre which helps became close quickly, almost like a family.
2010 people train as taxi or private hire car drivers. Andrea, my mentor, helped me over the year mainly because
34%
2009 Having helped around 1000 trainees into of how much empathy she has; she really took time to listen.
Gender balance on Mowgli
23%
self-employment, the Taxi Academy has When I had crucial decisions to make, I would ring her and
programmes received recognition for its business model talk; It was such a relief, to bounce decisions off someone first.
Andrea was always there for me, especially last year when I
Since the first programme in March 2009. from HSBC Startup Stars and the Smarta had some personal issues to deal with alongside work. I feel
57/175 entrepreneurs have been female (32%) 100 Awards for Innovation. He was matched that her support helped me to keep working on my business-
We are working to improve the number of not getting lost in it.
with Andrea, his mentor, in 2010.
women who work with us. In 2010 34% of
Mowgli entrepreneurs were female and in Now, I consider that I’m a mentor to others around me,
2011 the figure was 35%. including many of the drivers we train. When you’re in business
a long time, you get used to the repeated challenges and
knockbacks that come with it- but, it can still be hard to stay
motivated. Mentoring helps with that motivation. Even though
We would ask readers to bear in mind the challenges faced by those who were running small businesses in the Arab world, during the
I make little changes to my big vision every day, I now have a
widespread upheaval which occurred in 2011. Mowgli Syria mentees were often unable to continue their relationships past 6 months
clear idea of what I’m aiming for with my business.”
due to being cut off from communications, meaning we cannot collect data from them - and indeed many have sadly been forced to
leave both the country and their business. These issues also affected operational aspects of running our programmes in 2010-11.
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5. The Mowgli Foundation - Annual Review June 1 - Dec 31 2011 www.mowgli.org.uk
Progress towards localising
our mentoring programs
Financial stats (period July to December 2011)
increasing from
63%
Income
0% in 2009 and
13% in 2010
18%
82%
in 2011
*progress towards localising our mentoring programs
£67,879 sponsorship
£314,993 donations
£44,072
received as
Benefits in Kind
intend to become
73% entrepreneurs
a mentor to
someone else in
their community
*embedding a mentoring culture
3%
Governance
costs
5%
62%
were referred
by our local
partners and
92%
Mentoring programmes
incubators
*collaborating with local partners
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6. The Mowgli Foundation - Annual Review June 1 - Dec 31 2011 www.mowgli.org.uk
Mowgli Mentee Case Mowgli Mentor Case
Study - Ala Suleiman Study - Mohammad
Having graduated from the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Masadeh
Ala Suleiman, a Mowgli Jordan mentee and one of Oasis 500’s first
companies, went on to work in several companies before opening his
own business: Masmoo3, the first specialized Digital Arabic Audio Books Mohammad Masadeh holds a BA degree in Business Administration and
Production house in the Arab world. Ala joined a Mowgli programme in Operations Research from Eastern Michigan University. With over 20 years
May 2011 and was matched with a mentor from the UK, Chris Rawlins. of experience in consulting mainly in entrepreneurship and enterprise
development in Jordan and across the Middle East, Mohammed now serves
“When I started (with Mowgli) I thought I wouldn’t need a mentor. On as a Mowgli facilitator and will promote and develop our Mowgli Jordan
a personal level I thought I could handle the business on my own, I Mohammed (centre) at a Mowgli mentoring workshop mentoring programmes.
“Now I have begun to help thought I was competent and self-motivated. But after being faced with
challenges, market problems, investments… I couldn’t find anyone who “The difference between regular mentoring and Mowgli’s mentoring are that
others in the same way Chris believed in me as Chris believed in me. I found a great friend and a wise other types of mentoring are usually done at a much faster pace. Mentors
specialist in the business who kept me motivated during the hard times. “Being a mentor has helped need to take more time, to ensure the entrepreneur reaches sustainability.
helped me, like supporting Being a mentor has helped me too, since ultimately as business people we
me too, since ultimately as
other entrepreneurs as well We now have our own offices and have built our own studio, and have are all facing the same difficulties. For example, my two mentees were trying
had to employ more staff. With more than 30 Arabic Audiobooks and 30 business people we are all to raise capital for their businesses, as I was also trying to raise capital for my
as my employees.” business the past year- so working with them gave me a better view of what I
Audio stories available for download worldwide, we are developing new
and improved products, and we have launched a new website
facing the same difficulties.” was really doing in my business. Also, you feel very good about yourself when
(www.masmoo3.com). Now I have begun to help others in the same you are giving, and when you help the person in front of you succeed!
way Chris helped me, like supporting other entrepreneurs as well as my
employees. I now try to motivate them and give advice when they need We face many problems in Jordan. One of our biggest problems is
support. unemployment, and the solution is ultimately creating small and medium
enterprises. We need to develop these companies, and the only way to
I was wrong when I thought that mentorship was not for me - I can feel the develop them is through programmes like Mowgli.”
results and I know that part of what motivated me was Chris’ mentorship.”
95%
Impact on Mentors
Berytech, Mowgli Lebanon
Partner:
Lebanon needs entrepreneurs to contribute to
the economy, limit ‘brain drain’, and create jobs.
Entrepreneurship stimulates innovation, as well Mowgli programmes to others
as creating success stories and inspirational
role models within Lebanese communities.
Berytech entrepreneurs who work with Mowgli
mentors receive a number of benefits, including
getting clarity on their vision moving forward; an
unbiased and structured relationship; and they
79%
also expand their network and gain valuable
contacts. It’s important for entrepreneurs to
87%
have someone to bounce ideas off, and to “The experience reinforced
encourage them to be more systematic and
rigorous about their business growth plans.
my purpose as a coach,
In the future, Berytech and Mowgli hope to
mentor and business owner.” developed active listening,
work together to develop more Mentor/Mentee to mentor others in their empathy and understanding
Mentor, Ghada El Kurd, Jordan 2011
experiences, as well as recruiting more mentors
directly from the local community.”
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7. Learn more about what Mowgli does
Visit our website www.mowgli.org.uk and read our regularly updated blog posts
Register for Mowgli’s quarterly newsletter at www.mowgli.org.uk/about-mowgli/mowgli-newsletter
Follow us on Facebook at
Follow us on Twitter on @mowglitweets
Join our LinkedIn Group at www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1840711
Watch our videos on our Youtube channel -
Join the Mowgli family
– Are you an entrepreneur looking for a mentor to help you grow your business? If so, find out
how you can join the growing network of Mowgli Entrepreneurs at
http://mowgli.org.uk/about-mowgli/become-a-mowgli-entrepreneur
Become a Mowgli Mentor – Are you an experienced professional looking to develop your leadership capability and support an
entrepreneur to grow their business? If so, find out how you can join the growing network of Mowgli Mentors at
http://mowgli.org.uk/about-mowgli/become-a-mowgli-mentor
Become a Mowgli Sponsor – Are you an individual or corporation who wishes to participate in and/or help change the trend that
only 20-25% of start up enterprises succeed, as a result of mentoring? If so, email us at to find out how you
can support entrepreneurs grow their businesses on our year-long Mowgli Mentoring Experience (MME) programs
Become a Mowgli Partner – Are you an organisation that is already established within your country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem
and is looking to broaden your service offering to include mentorship? If so why not become a Mowgli empowered partner?
Contact us at
Become a Mowgli Volunteer – Find out how you can volunteer and support entrepreneurship, mentorship and leadership
development by emailing us at
Contact us
Mowgli Foundation (UK/Head Office) Mowgli Jordan
The 3rd Floor Care of: Young Entrepreneurs Association
Bush House King Abdullah ll Street, King Hussein Business Park
72 Prince Street Bldg.10 First Floor
Bristol PO Box 1652
BS1 4QD, UK Amman 11821, Jordan
Tel: +44 (0)117 929 2540 Tel: +962 6 580 5379
Email: info@mowgli.org.uk Fax: +962 6 580 5375
Registered address: 1 The Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3JT
A Company Limited by Guarantee No. 06587752 (Charity Reg No. 1127087)
