PACT Afrique students meet their mentors in Abidjan

During an event held on 17 February in Abidjan, 45 students from the 2023/2024 Ivorian PACT students and 5 of their mentors based in Côte d'Ivoire got the opportunity to know each other better and deepen their conversations. The event took place during a visit to Côte d'Ivoire by Philippe Oster, Senior Executive Director for International Affairs, and Wassime Haouari, Promotion and Recruitment Manager for Masters programs, at HEC's office in Abidjan.

"For some, this mentoring initiative is considered the most important one."

Anaïs Chanthavong, PACT Afrique Program Manager

Listening, advising, defining, challenging, explaining... These are just some of the missions of the 34 mentors all PACT Afrique program participants can count on this year. 45 students from the three partner institutions in Côte d'Ivoire (Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny, École nationale supérieure de statistique et d'économie appliquée and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny) met 5 mentors based in Côte d'Ivoire, as well as Philippe Oster and Wassime Haouari, during an event organised by the HEC Representative Office in Abidjan in the morning of February 17.

Anaïs Chanthavong, in charge of the program locally, is also responsible for identifying new mentors each year, encouraged by the many very positive feedbacks: "for some, this mentoring initiative is considered to be the most important one". Some students have told her that mentoring "boosts [them] and guides [them] on the right path".

This year, the 70 students in the current PACT Africa participants can rely on 34 mentors, who are also based in France, Gabon and Cameroon. For 3 years now, each student has been supported by an alumni throughout their training. Sometimes, these ties can last beyond the preparation phase of the program: some mentors provide support after admission and during the study period, when students are looking for intershhips, and so on.

The commitment of the mentors, the quality of the discussions and the links forged between them enable students to develop their self-confidence. The mentors pass on both their knowledge of the HEC Paris environment and share their advice on preparing the Master in Management application and the selection interview. They encourage each candidate to structure their arguments and draw up a professional project, if this has not already been defined.

For more information on the HEC Paris office in Abidjan