Everything started with my mother’s recommendation to apply to a program she read about in an electronic news page that aimed to build bridges between Syrian youth and business leaders in Turkey. It was the first time I have heard about something called “reverse mentorship”, and to be honest it did not make any sense to me at the beginning. “How could a Syrian refugee student give any sort of mentorship to a business leader in a company as big as Unilever?”, I told myself. Nevertheless, I was determined to leave the imaginary cage of judgement that I immediately threw upon the idea of me mentoring an experienced person, who under normal circumstances would be the mentor.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 pandemic, we had to do all of our meetings

online. At the beginning of our first meeting, I was extremely nervous. I did not know what to say at all. But thankfully, my dear mentee helped break the ice in no time. I realized that this was actually going to be a bi-directional mentorship, rather than a uni-directional one. We started discussing matters relating to being a refugee, adapting to a new life, identity issues, and the world during and after COVID-19. In the later meetings, we continued talking about what motivates us to work, the environmental and social responsibility projects that Unilever has undertaken, our goals and hobbies, life after graduation, and nanotechnology and its potential applications in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. It has been an eye-opening experience that helped me gain important insights on working as a leader in a multinational company. It also gave me the opportunity to learn to be confident when communicating with important business leaders and people. Additionally, some of our discussions made me question my old perspectives regarding employment, identity and life goals. I am very thankful for the time my mentee, Mr. Mustafa Seçkin, has dedicated to our meetings despite his full schedule

as executive vice president, and the effort and care that the Embark team has given to ensure that our meetings realize despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic.

Kazem Alhariri.