The 100 Mentors for 100 days Project for KGEC

The Idea
A mentor mentee program for connecting senior KGEC alumni in the industry, research or services sectors
with the current students of the institution to better equip them as students and future professionals.

Who?
5 Mentorship Program Managers to run the program.
Kanak ( ECE,4th) , Pritish(ECE,4th ), Sumit, Shubham(ECE,3rd),Saurav(EE,3rd, KGEC E-cell)
Aman to be the coordinator. For guidance on program running Alekhya to be of help.

How?
1. Each of the 5 Program Managers to spot 20 Mentors each.
2. And assign Mentees to each Mentors : 3 mentees for each mentor. I leave it to you to decide which
batches shall benefit the most from the program, my advice shall be that you choose all 5 mentees from
different streams ( e.g. 1 from ECE, 1 from ME, 1 from CSE, 1 IT etc). Helps in having a diversity and not
having a sameness.
3. The PMs need to seek existing databases, Facebook accounts, linkedin profiles, use senior alumni they
know already to get more contacts of their batchmates. Some batch champions have already been
identified by Rajeswar Bera and some others, PMs need to seek their guidance to help identity mentor
alumni more efficiently.
4. Once the list and the contact details of the target alumni is in place, the concerned PM ( as per the
targets batch in question as detailed in the note later ), the PM needs to drop an introductory mail first
to seek the interest level of the mentor in question about how much time she/he can devote to this
program.
5. Please note, and I cannot stress this enough, if 100 mentors are the targets, you have to target at least
250 mails cos not all will be confirmations. Hence for each PM the task is to drop 50 mails each to
eventually get 20 confirmations.
6. The mail needs to be followed by with a confirmatory phone call to check her/his final yes/ no. < Note:
the draft of the introductory mail needs to be locked as step 1 >
7. If the answer is an Yes from the alumnus, the mentee assignment happens. The PM shall assign the 3
mentees to the mentor in question. Note: the PM needs to check with the mentor and take into
 consideration whether there is a wish list the mentor has or not about the kind of mentees which she/he
wants. For example which stream that the mentee shall be from. Or the year. Or the gender of the
mentee.
8. The next step is the program conduct, which shall happen from 1st of August. How? Detailed later in the
note.

Why 3 mentees?
Quite the optimum number, 1 on 1 is too low for us as we need to move fast to get maximum number of
students covered as we go along.
More than 3 is a bit of a crowd, and hence capping it at 3.
There are programs which have 4 or 5 mentees as well, but to begin with, in my POV it shall be a stretch
for us at KGEC. Hence

Who shall be the mentors? Which batch?

To begin with, we need to keep the program confined to a select few senior alumni ( Cut off as 2013 as pass
out year ) only as mentors. Key reason being they shall be in the best possible position to guide the
students basis their vast experience.

The 5 PM-s can divide their targets in batches of 3 years each for locking the mentors < years denote
passing out years >
Kanak: 1999-2001
Pritish: 2002-2004
Sumit: 2005-2007
Shubham: 2008-2010
Saurav: 2011-2013

Funding for the program

Call costs for the 5 program managers shall be covered by the Mentorship KGEC group which has
gathered on whatsapp.
This is the ONLY logistics cost which is there, for cold calling prospective mentors initially and then the
formal calls to keep the conversation going.
 The cost can be capped at Rs 300 per Program Manager per month. A princely sum of 1500 per month
for the 5 Program Managers shall be paytm-d by the Mentorship KGEC group to 1 single POC ( any 1 of
your choice ).
Note: Call records, if needed, shall need to be provided by the Program Managers to maintain
transparency with the benefactors.
Note: this is a proposal, subject to the approval of the mentorship group on whtsapp,

What is the minimum amount of time required for the interactions

There are 2 things which need to be done as part of the program- formal interaction and informal ongoing
mentor mentee conversations.
Formal 3 way call : The 3 way con call between Mentorship PM,Mentor and the 3 mentees Once every
fortnight to begin with.
Informally, the mentees can reach out to the mentor as many number of times as they can, basis the
relationship they would have established with the mentor, and obviously depending on her/ his time and
availability. This can happen in any manner in which the mentor mentee find them to be feasible.< e.g.
Whtsapp conversations, google hangouts, Skype calls, in person meetings if possible for both mentor
and mentees etc >

Whats in it for me?

There is something for everyone
The Mentor: Giving back to the alma mater in a kind which has no parallel- her/his experience. Nothing
beats that.
The Program Manager ( the bridge ): actual project management experience which they imbibe by
working on the project of scale and on tight timelines. This is something which shall help them network
with so many alumni at one go. And improve their communication skills (oral,written,verbal,online) as
they go along.
The Mentees: the ones who gain the most. Getting first hand guidance by shadowing an industry expert
or a research scholar from her/his areas of interest. This shall go a long way to give relevance and real
world practicality to the teachings in classrooms. The KGEC students need more of a real world
exposure, and fast!

The Watchouts
 The students need to bear in mind the fact that the mentorship program is NOT about seeking jobs from
the alumnus.
The students also need to refrain from brazenly asking for internship projects from the alumni. If the
alumni has the same in mind, she/he shall come forward with it during the course of the mentorship- but
not the other way round.
The sole aim of this program is to assign a guide to the mentee to help her/him prepare better for the
days ahead, whether in studies ( higher or otherwise ) or in the industry.

Key Timelines : Next steps | Person Responsible | By When

1. The existing databases to be pooled in. All 5. 09th July.
2. The introductory mail body framing: Aman. 04th July.
3. A logo for the mentorship program to be designed.Shubham. 09th July- 1st cut. Shubham to receive the
design brief from Alekhya separately.
4. Call within the core group ( 5 PMs+Aman+Alekhya) to check readiness, and identify what all help is
needed and from whom.
5. 2017 Program rollout: 1st of August. Program end date: 10th of November.
6. Key Performance Indicator of the program: To have at least 3 rounds of conversations between each
mentor and 3-mentee group during the 100 days.