YOUTH

WHITE READINESS AND

PAPER WILLINGNESS
TO BE MENTORED
Uganda Study, 2018

BY CHARLES NATUHAMYA
Research & Data Analysis Expert

0
Executive Summary

Organizations establish formal mentoring programs to advance personal and

professional development, but not all relationships between mentors and protégés
deliver these results. Results from this research conducted among youth in
Uganda, indicate that youth prefer and thus gain more from fellow youth mentors
than veteran ones. It was also found out that the youth prefer the mentors’
credibility and not their success level which is exactly opposite to what has been
perceived.

It is therefore concluded that matching mentors with protégés on two specific

traits; age and their credibility, enhances the outcomes of mentoring relationships
for protégés (youth).

Youth Preference of Mentors

Youth unemployment is one of the most serious challenges in Africa, where the
share of the population of young people between the ages of 15-24 is rapidly
growing, but not in cooperation with the job market.

Uganda has one of the fastest growing and youngest population in the world. It has
the world’s youngest population with over 78 percent of the population below the
age of 30; about half of the population is below 24 years of age according to the
2011 Uganda’s Population Stabilisation Report.

In order to tackle the problem of job creation, several individuals and teams from
diverse institutions have initiated youth entrepreneurship programs and projects in
Uganda. With the intention of inspiring the youth, a panel of mentors is usually put
on board mostly composed of veteran business professionals, senior consultants,
and other veteran mentors.

But having conducted a study about youth preference of whom they would want
to have as their mentors or advisers, the results indicated otherwise compared to
what has been the belief. It has always been assumed that youth prefer having
veterans as their mentors or source of inspiration.
1

Youth Readiness And Willingness To Be Mentored

Charles Natuhamya, Research & Data Analysis Expert | Tel: +256 704 157594
But in this study, where 44.4 percent were female and 55.6 percent were male
respondents, it was found out that the majority of the youth (44 percent)
preferred fellow young innovators as opposed to the veterans. 28 percent
preferred Entrepreneurs, 17 percent preferred Senior Executives/top managers
and only 11 percent preferred celebrities/popular figures.

The results also indicated that no respondent preferred politicians as their source
of inspiration. The results were not different in both male and female respondents.

11% Celebrities/popular figures “The majority (44

44%
28%
percent) of the
Entrepreneurs
youth prefer Fellow
Executives/top managers
Young Innovators
17%
as opposed to
Fellow young innovators Veterans”

Years back, there existed an enduring cultural narrative where older, more
experienced people impart wisdom to a younger, eager-eyed generation. This
meant that younger workers had to take the advice and stay quiet until they, too,
have enough experience to turn around and mentor the next generation.

But in a world where younger generations lead companies changing the world, this
narrative no longer plays out as expected. The stereotype damages the potential
for different generations to learn enduring and important lessons from the
experiences of others.

What Youth Look Out For In Mentors

Success has always been considered as the first trait for one to get on board as a
mentor especially for the youth. This research however shows that actually, the
youth take a mentor’s credibility as the first consideration before following his or
2

Youth Readiness And Willingness To Be Mentored

Charles Natuhamya, Research & Data Analysis Expert | Tel: +256 704 157594
her advice. This is what the majority (39 percent) of the respondents said. Second
to credibility was Success at 22 percent followed by Excellence at 17 percent and
lastly Creativity and Past Discipline each at 11 percent.

22% 11% Creativity

“The majority (39
Credibility
17%
percent) of the
39% Discipline youth consider a
11% Excellence mentor’s Credibiltiy
Success before Success”

Personality and Mentoring

Researchers have lamented that relatively little is known about the importance
personality characteristics in formal mentoring relationships—both in general, as
well as in respect specifically to the matching process that precedes the formation
of such relationships (Turban & Lee, 2007).

Mentoring researchers interested in personality have mainly focused on the

effects of an individual’s (i.e., a protégé’s or mentor’s) personality characteristics
on the involvement in and the quality of mentoring relationships.

Relevant findings in informal mentoring settings indicate that individuals who

engaged in mentoring relationships tended to be open to experience,
conscientious, and extraverted (Niehoff, 2006) and that individuals with internal
loci of control, high self-monitoring, and low neuroticism were more likely to
initiate and receive mentoring (Turban & Dougherty, 1994).

Further work concerning informal mentoring relationships identified that

extraversion and Type A personality relate positively to protégé-initiated informal
mentoring relationships (Aryee, Lo, & Kang, 1999). The same study also found that
3

Youth Readiness And Willingness To Be Mentored

Charles Natuhamya, Research & Data Analysis Expert | Tel: +256 704 157594
protégés’ individual extraversion was positively related to mentoring received,
suggesting that extraverted protégés with their gregarious and sociable disposition
tended to engage more frequently in interactions with their mentors (Aryee et al.,
1999).

Waters (2004) found that informally established mentoring pairs in which mentors
and protégés both had high levels of agreeableness, openness, and extraversion
(and those in which protégés had high conscientiousness) hold a shared view of
the relationship regarding, particularly, the provision of psychosocial support.
Similarly, Bozionelos (2004) found that, in informal mentoring relationships,
mentors’ individual openness to experience relates positively to the mentoring
provided, showing that individuals with broad interests and receptivity to new
experiences and ideas are more likely to provide mentoring support.

Conclusion and Recommendation

From this study, it can be established that though mentoring programs and
mentors are available, what the youth prefer or consider most important in
mentors is actually not what is out there. Could this be the reason why Ugandan
youth have consistently failed to respond to mentorship?

It’s therefore recommended that the youth be part of the panel of mentors
directly contributing to mentorship programs. This will lead to enhanced response
of the youth to these mentoring programs.

Among suggested are TV programs showcasing what youth innovators have done;
group mentoring programs run by the youth, and for the youth; conferences
where speakers include the youth, to mention but a few.

Youth Readiness And Willingness To Be Mentored

Charles Natuhamya, Research & Data Analysis Expert | Tel: +256 704 157594
References

Aryee, S., Lo, S., & Kang, I. L. (1999). Antecedents of early career stage mentoring
among Chinese employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 563-576.

Bozionelos, N. (2004). Mentoring provided: Relation to mentor’s career success,

personality, and mentoring received. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64, 24-46.

Niehoff, B. P. (2006). Personality predictors of participation as a mentor. Career

Development International, 11, 321-333.

Turban, D. B., & Lee, F. K. (2007). The role of personality in mentoring

relationships: Formation, dynamics, and outcomes. In B. R. Ragins & K. E. Kram
(Eds.), The handbook of mentoring at work (pp. 21-50). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Turban, D. B., & Dougherty, T. W. (1994). Role of protégé personality in receipt of

mentoring and career success. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 688-702.

Waters, L. (2004). Protégé-mentor agreement about the provision of psychosocial

support: The mentoring relationship, personality, and workload. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 65, 519-532.

Youth Readiness And Willingness To Be Mentored

Charles Natuhamya, Research & Data Analysis Expert | Tel: +256 704 157594