Pass It On: Mentor Young Innovators Building a Better Future
May 18, 2026 8:00 AM PT 11:00 AM ET
In a village in Sub-Saharan Africa, a young entrepreneur is building a smokeless cookstove to protect maternal and child health. In another, someone’s engineering a water purification system from scratch. In a third, a fellow is rethinking food packaging to cut waste.
These are real ventures being built right now by fellows at beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship – a global program for eco-innovators aged 16 to 28. MEA co-founder and event host Jeff Hamaoui has spent the past year mentoring a cohort of them.
Right now beVisioneers is looking for more mentors.
Join Jeff and beVisioneers’ Seán Gallen and Coralie Jacquot for a conversation about what mentoring through this program actually looks like — and what it might offer the work you take on next.
They’ll cover:
• What beVisioneers is, who the fellows are, and what they’re building
• How the mentorship model works – the time commitment, the format, and the support mentors receive
• Why decades of “ordinary” career experience is exactly what these young founders need
• What Jeff has learned (and unlearned) coaching his Rafiki cohort of young innovators this past year
• How to apply, and what to expect once you do
Several of Jeff’s mentees will join us to share what this relationship has meant for their ventures and their communities.
If you’ve spent your career building something and you’re ready to put that experience to work somewhere it’ll matter, this hour is for you.