WiiN Mentorship Programme

5 cohorts completed, our 6th one is open for applications!

Grow Faster, Lead Stronger: Become Part of WiiN’s Mentorship Programme

Already five cohorts completed — and applications for Cohort 6 are now open!

At WiiN, we believe that real professional growth happens through meaningful relationships. Our mentorship programme is consistently rated as one of the most valuable aspects of WiiN membership — helping women gain confidence, clarity, and momentum in both their careers and personal development.

The impact lasts far beyond the programme itself. Many mentees share that the insights, support, and mindset shifts they experienced continue to shape their decisions, leadership style, and sense of direction for years.

Cohort 6 will once again be guided by: WiiN Co-Founder Julie Barbier Leblan and Corporate Psychologist & Executive Coach Jane Viljoen, who lead the full year-long journey with structure, expertise, and deep care for each participant’s growth.

Our Mentors

WiiN mentors are founders, business owners, c-levels or senior professionals from within our community network who have solid experience in the incentives, rewards or gift cards world and decided to volunteer to give back to their industry by inspiring, empowering & supporting the rising females in our community to excel in their careers and develop professionally & personally.

Benefits for Mentors

As a result of being a mentor for the WiiN Mentorship Programme, you will receive the following benefits:
* Role modelling
* Improved communication and personal skills
* Developed leadership and management qualities
* Increased confidence and motivation
* Engagement in a volunteering opportunity
* Featured as a mentor on our platforms.

For Mentees

The rising stars within our community network are the young professional women who have less than 5 years of professional experience or who have shifted their careers and have recently stepped in the incentives, rewards or gift cards world and are seeking guidance from the experienced women in our community.

Benefits for Mentees

As a result of being a mentee with the WiiN Mentorship Programme, you will receive the following benefits:
* You will receive guidance and support from an experienced professional with relevant industry experience
* Increased industry knowledge
* Professional & personal development opportunities
* Develop your communication, decision making and personal skills
* Increased confidence
* Building your network & connections

Meet the Leaders Behind the Programme

JULIE BARBIER LEBLAN

Julie Barbier-Leblan is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience in disrupting innovative technologies and strategic partnerships. She founded Merit, one of the fastest growing start-up in global engagement technology and solutions start-ups in the GCC and closed a 5M USD-Series A round with GCC VCs in 2021 co-led by Impact46 and Tech Invest Com, followed by a 28M series B round in 2025 led by Alistithmar capital. Originally from France and after a successful career in finance law in Europe, Julie launched her first start-up in Dubai in 2012, MyList, a B2C digital gifting start-up. In 2016, Merit Incentives was set up to cater to the B2B growing demand on rewards & digital gifting for large enterprise clients in the MENA region and globally. Julie recently decided to offer these robust enterprise software and solutions to cater to SMEs by launching SaaS platforms, Rewardsby.com and Giftcardsby.com.

JANE VILJOEN

Jane is a Chartered Psychologist and a Multiple Award-Winning Executive Coach with 20+ years of experience in helping CEOs, executives, and leadership teams enhance their performance, communication, and engagement. She is the founder and head coach at Best Hopes Coaching and Consulting Ltd, a company that specialises in applying neuroscience, positive psychology, and conversational intelligence to foster meaningful connections, high-performance cultures and help individuals resume their personal power. Jane runs several corporate programmes, training leaders in Coaching and Mentoring skills and leads on the technical side of our mentorship programme, ensuring that all those involved are fully supported to maintain the professionalism and ethical standards that you would expect from a corporate mentoring programme.

Testimonials

What our mentees say

“Being part of WiiN and taking part in the mentoring program has really helped to build my confidence, in ways I hadn’t anticipated. Having a supportive, non-judgmental and non-competitive space to openly discuss fears, ambitions and personal goals has genuinely helped me to challenge the all-too-common feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’.

The combination of informal in-person events and more structured goal-setting sessions has enabled me to grow my professional confidence and my aspirations.”

I’m deeply grateful to WiiN for the opportunity to take part in the 2025 mentorship programme. It was truly an honour to be guided through this journey.

I want to thank my mentor, Tracy, for her extraordinary kindness, empathy, and flexibility — especially during a difficult period when I was ill and hospitalised. Her support gave me the strength to move forward, accept myself as I am, and grow into the person I wanted to become.

This experience has been invaluable both professionally and personally, and its impact will stay with me far beyond the programme itself. Thank you, WiiN and Tracy, for such a meaningful and life-enriching journey.

“The WiiN mentorship stretched my thinking and accelerated my growth. With a broader, global lens on incentives and targeted coaching, I closed the year with a new qualification and a board appointment – outcomes I once thought were out of reach.”

“My experience in the mentorship program has been very enriching, a great tool in my professional development. I definitely recommend it.”

The Mentorship Programme is sponsored by Merit Incentives

Mentorship is the engine for career acceleration. As WiiN prepares to launch our 6th Cohort this March, we are thrilled to announce that Merit has stepped up as our official Mentorship Programme Sponsor for 2026.

Designed to empower the next generation of women leaders across the rewards, incentives, engagement, and technology industries, the program connects high-potential women with senior leaders and entrepreneurs through a structured, human-centered mentorship journey.

The 2026 cohort supported and led by Jane Viljoen, Chartered Psychologist and a
Multiple Award-Winning Executive Coach of Best Hopes Coaching and Consulting Ltd, will focus on:

● Leadership confidence and decision-making
● Career acceleration and entrepreneurship
● Building sustainable networks across regions and industries
● Turning ambition into long-term impact

Reflecting on the mission behind the programme, Julie Barbier, CEO at Merit and
Co-Founder at WiiN, commented: “Women inspiring women is how confidence
becomes leadership.”

Are you ready to join us? Applications for Cohort 6 are now open for both mentors and mentees.