SARIPA Mentorship Programme

18 July 2022

Dear SARIPA members,

We are delighted to inform you that our first SARIPA mentorship programme has been launched.

The Board resolved to conduct a mentorship programme to benefit young practitioners, with the aim to educate, nurture and empower, practitioners countrywide, in accordance with our mission statement. The objective of the programme is to allow for a transfer of skills, experience and know-how and to get younger members to better understand the practical intricacies of insolvency and rescue practice. The programme is directed at nurturing sought-after qualities in an Insolvency Practitioner and Business Rescue Practitioner; these include professional awareness and ethical conduct. The aim is to ultimately empower our mentees to be placed in a position where they can confidently be appointed in live insolvency and rescue mandates and with the prospect of them developing their careers over time.

Initially, the programme was founded upon in-person contact between a mentor and mentee. However, because mentees are situated in various areas around South Africa, and for the sake of practicality, the programme outcomes and activities have been restructured to also accommodate for contact between mentors and mentees through virtual platforms.

We are grateful to our mentors for their willingness to give up their valuable time for this important programme. We do not doubt that the mentors will themselves benefit from their participation in the mentorship programme and certainly when they can recognise the immense benefits of the programme and where a real difference is made to the careers of each participating mentee.

The first workshop for mentors was held at the offices of Deloitte on the 8th of July 2022. Mentors were taken through the methodology of the programme and the extent of their future interactions with their mentees.

The mentees workshop followed on the 11th of July and was a great success. The enthusiasm and excitement displayed by the mentees that attended the workshop was palatable and bodes well for an enriching experience all round and when the programme gets underway.

I must thank the members of the Mentorship workstream Rene Bekker, Siviwe Dongwana, Jo Mitchel Marais and Christopher Rey for getting the mentorship programme up and running. There is no doubt that the SARIPA mentorship programme will be a great success.

With thanks,
Dr Eric Levenstein
SARIPA Chairperson