The Young Leaders Mentorship Program (YLMP) is designed to provide a dynamic platform for mentorship and networking between professionals and young individuals. Our aim is to foster a global culture of mentorship relationships that empowers and guides the youth in their personal and professional development journey. Throughout this journey, mentors and mentees are encouraged to establish a clear understanding of their mutual expectations. Recognizing that confidential information may be shared during this relationship, both mentors and mentees pledge to maintain strict confidentiality during and after the mentoring period.
YLMP was founded by three dynamic black females from the legal field who identified a critical gap in mentorship opportunities within the Namibian community. Our founders, Vicky Kapuka, Taimi Iileka-Amupanda, and Julia Gideon, bring diversity to the program with their varied backgrounds and field of expertise. What sets us apart is our commitment to inclusivity, welcoming both females and males, as well as individuals from diverse fields of study, including medicine, law, marketing, economics, engineering, political science, and dental surgery. This diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and our primary goal is to facilitate meaningful mentor-mentee relationships while providing essential workshops. Our primary goal is to foster connections between mentors and mentees while offering general workshops. However, the mentor-mentee relationship is largely self-directed and self-managed.
An admitted Legal Practitioner of the High Court of Namibia, having obtained both her B.Juris and LLB (Honours) degrees from the University of Namibia. Amongst other qualifications, she further holds an LLM in Compliance (Magna Cum Laude) from the Université de Fribourg, and is currently employed as a Legal and Compliance Officer at YouHodler in Switzerland. Proving her versatility, she has worked in various industries that include Legal, Audit, Advisory, Lending, Insurance, Unit Trust Management and Asset Management. Her passion for mentorship started at a young age with having a key interest in teaching the young children in the community and thereafter recognising the importance of mentoring with age.
Julia has always been part of programmes that involved an element of mentoring and learning since the first grade; programmes she was fortunate enough to have access to as a result of being in boarding school. As she got older, she became a mentor, and started sharing her knowledge and experiences with those who followed after her – which has now expanded to a trustee of YLMP. Julia holds both B.Juris and LLB (Honours) degrees from the University of Namibia and is an Admitted Legal Practitioner of the High Court of Namibia. She further holds a Certificate of Completion in International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists from the University of Pretoria, and is employed as Legal and Compliance Manager at Transworld Group Administrators (Pty) Ltd.
Taimi is an admitted Legal Practitioner of the High and Supreme Court of Namibia. She holds both B.Juris and LLB (Honours) degrees from the University of Namibia, and has professional qualifications in the area of Compliance and Business Risk Management. Taimi is currently employed as a Director at Sisa Namandje & Company Incorporated, having started at the firm as an intern. She believes in the importance of skills and knowledge transfer through mentoring, as it is not only a great path for knowledge transfer, but also for development.
