Mentor Story: Vivek B N - Cadence Scholarship Program

The Cadence Scholarship Program is the flagship CSR program of Cadence India, introduced five years ago. Many meritorious students from under-served sections of society drop out of the education system after school because of the lack of finances. The project addresses this issue by retaining such students in the academic cycle through funding and support. Cadence employees come forward to serve as mentors for these students to guide them in their studies and career aspirations. They meet their mentees regularly for them to understand their issues and help solve their problems, which help students complete their course with good marks, improve their communication skills, overcome their fears, and emerge with a great personality and positive outlook towards life.

Meet Vivek B N, Finance Supervisor, one of the senior mentors for the Program in Bangalore, and hear about his experiences and association with the Scholarship Program.

Asim: What’s your perspective on this program?

Vivek: At its core, mentoring is about advancing the learning and development of the mentee as well as for the mentor. From my perspective, a mentoring relationship is most effective when the mentor and mentee take the time at the beginning of the relationship to set specific, measurable, and meaningful goals. It is a great platform and it’s a great opportunity to share my experiences for the benefit of others.

Asim: How long you’ve been participating in this program? What excites you the most?

Vivek: I’ve been participating from the last 5 years in the Cadence Scholarship Program. The exciting part of this program is that mentors get a chance to meet mentees regularly to understand their issues and solve their problems by providing suitable guidance and references to help students in completing their course with high marks. Mentors also try to help student to improve their communication and technical skills, work on identifying students' weak areas, and help them to overcome them in this competitive world.

Asim: Amidst your busy schedule, how do you manage? 

Vivek: I have never considered this program as extra workload! Rather, I have enjoyed every meeting and interaction with the highly motivated mentees. Apart from the Cadence Scholarship Program, through one of the social media pages, I also help a lot of students and youngsters who are ready to start their careers. Generally, I share a lot of content on technical know-how and career advice in finance and accounts area.

Asim: Finally, what are the challenges that you faced?

Vivek: Due to the pandemic, we had missed out a lot of interactive sessions, but we were always connected on WhatsApp. Students were struggling with projecting their short- and long-term future goals . They had low-to-mid English speaking and communication skills and lacked confidence. I had pointed out these areas in my early meetings and started helping them to overcome these factors and make them ready to face the real competitive world. I have also guided them to build their long-term goals and shared case studies to help them succeed in their personal and professional careers.