The Extraordinary Women Initiative.
The Extraordinary Women mentoring scheme, run by Bentley Motors, is entering its third year. The involvement of students, institutions, and inspiring female pioneers from Qatar and the UK is part of the initiative's mission to foster the growth of young women into strong leaders.
The UK's Bath, Loughborough, Warwick, and Manchester Metropolitan universities, as well as Qatar's University of Doha for Science in Technology, work together to run the Extraordinary Women mentoring project.
This initiative is part of Bentley's broader effort to promote diversity and inclusion as outlined in its Beyond100 plan; it targets female students primarily in the domains of engineering, design, technology, and business. Its creators and designers were out to inspire female students to go beyond the box and pursue careers in the STEM fields and the automobile industry.
This June, eight students from the United Kingdom and Qatar will visit Bentley's headquarters in Crewe, England, for a week-long course that includes one-on-one mentoring from inspirational Pioneers, a group of specifically chosen, high-achieving women.
The importance of the project lies in the fact that it draws attention to the many opportunities that women have. In past iterations, students from the UK, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had the opportunity to interact with pioneers like Amanda Levete, a Stirling Prize-winning architect who was appointed CBE for her architectural achievements; Mishaal Ashemimry, a Saudi national who was the first female Gulf region aerospace engineer; and Amna Al Hashemi, a prominent Emirati thinker and serial entrepreneur.
This year, a student from the UK will be mentored by Sara Davies, MBE (pictured below), who is part of the Pioneering Women cohort. Many women across the world look up to the owner and creator of Crafter's Companion, a company that sells craft supplies and employs over 150 people. Sara gained fame as the youngest female investor on BBC One's Dragons' Den. On March 15, she made an appearance on the same network in Snow Going Back: Comic Relief vs. The Arctic, when she participated in an extraordinary Arctic expedition in support of Comic Relief.
She commented, “I love what Bentley is doing—celebrating the achievements of female talent; and, most importantly, supporting the growth of exceptional young females through their Extraordinary Woman initiative. I cannot wait to get started and meet the student I shall be personally mentoring.”.
Karen Lange, Bentley’s Board Member for Human Resources, commented: “It is a source of pride and inspiration to everyone within Bentley to see the Extraordinary Women programme going from strength to strength as it enters its third year and expands to a fourth country. Our aim for this extraordinary initiative has been to build a legacy for young women and support the success of the next generation of future leaders, and with past participants progressing to undertake placements with Bentley, we are already witnessing the positive impact it is having.”
The extraordinary women programme is one of many initiatives from Bentley Motors to champion gender equality, empower women globally, and foster inclusion. As part of its Beyond100 strategy, Bentley aims to become the most diverse luxury car company with colleagues as individual as its cars.
