A Lifelong Voyage of Mentorship

May – Share a story month

Get inspired by Donatella Nezereab who shares her story of Mentorship in her life from her Mentee perspective.

We at Int4 believe that development is in our hands, however, seeking out for role models like Michał Krawczyk, Eng Swee Yeoh, Agasthuri Baladandapani or Krzysztof Łuka and many more Masters at Int4 benefits us every day to become our better selves.

Reading time: 5 minutes

Have you ever heard of the saying that iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens and influences another?  Well, That has been my journey and definition of mentorship, and I would like to take you on a bit of a trip with me. I hope you are ready for it.

First and foremost, let me introduce myself. My name is Donatella Nezereab, a quirky young lady with boundless dreams and a legacy I go all out to build every day; and a fun fact about me is that I always need to have a cup of chai in the morning.

Well, now that formalities are in order, let’s kick off our journey with a little back story of how I came to embrace mentorship.  We start our journey with a young Donatella, aged ten, within the buzzing city of Nairobi, Kenya, on my way home with my mother from school. As we were heading home, we just so happened to cross paths with my mother’s mentor of life and career when she was young.

At that very moment, as they both reminisced about the good old days and as mama thanked her mentor for the tremendous impact he made in her life. I noticed a glow on her face and sparkles in her eyes that I could not forget, and in those few minutes, as though it was fate. In my young heart, a seed was planted that I would like to have the same glow and sparkle as mama did as she spoke to her mentor. As innocent as it was, it was the trigger that started my journey to seek out a life of mentorship in each area of my life.

As I grew up, I drew up a plan that I  would want to have a teacher in these four areas in my life. These areas are skills development, career, life/personal relationship, and spirituality. Having defined my mentorship areas, I began the journey and went on without a hinge; however, with all trips, at some point, you are bound to encounter storms, and one must decide to brave it out or seek shelter. Some of the challenges I faced were;

• Learning to differentiate mentors of a season and a lifetime.
• Learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable and not settling for less
• Having the mindset to always be ready to unlearn and relearn a couple of things as the world is constantly changing, and even as you read this article, the world is different from now and how it was a couple of minutes ago.

 
Despite the challenges, I have manoeuvred well, built character, made mistakes, and those mistakes have been my most outstanding mentors, as Steve Marabolis once said. However, as a young 22-year-old lady still developing in my career, I struggled to find a suitable mentor in the professional arena. Nonetheless, the toil soon came to an end when I joined Int4 right after completing my bachelor’s degree.

Why did my search come to an end, you may ask? Well, I will share with you a couple of reasons why;

• The mentorship culture of Int4 is one of the keynote foundations.
• The presence of 2 exceptional SAP Mentors Michal Krawczyk and Eng Swee Yeoh.
• Every person’s enthusiasm to teach you and support you in any area of concern, no matter the department.

 
These same reasons become the newfound treasure that I was searching for and would like to explore, and at no time in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be part of a team of people who constantly are seeking to develop one another and grow. In these few months being part of Int4, I have been challenged, provoked always to aim high and entrusted with responsibilities that I thought I was too young for; however, at Int4, there is no such thing as too young. Some of the things I have benefited from this experience are;

• Learning from real-life experience when it comes to the corporate world
• Learning to have a work-life balance
• Encouragement to have a constant learning culture
• Development of hard skills

 
With that, I would like to say my journey continues, and your journey might be underway, as we look forward to seeing how the story goes on from here for all of us when it comes to mentorship. I conclude with this maxim that to do what you have never done before, and you have to become who you have never been. And to become someone you have never been, you need someone who has already been there and done that.