We’re proud to announce that Impactiv has been awarded the C3 Innovator Badge, a recognition of our continued commitment to empowering youth, advancing career readiness, and building stronger communities across the UAE and Lebanon.
This certification isn’t just a milestone, it’s a reflection of the energy, purpose, and heart behind everything we do. From one-on-one mentoring sessions and skill-building workshops to peer learning and community engagement, our mission has always been about helping young people unlock their potential and thrive, even in the most challenging environments.
Every conversation, every breakthrough moment, and every new connection made through our programs is a reminder of why we do this work. This certification celebrates not only our impact, but also the values we live by: inclusion, resilience, and empowerment.
To our dedicated mentors, inspiring youth, supportive partners, and everyone who has believed in our mission, this achievement is yours too.
We’re just getting started and the best is yet to come. Let’s keep building futures with purpose.
By Dr. Maya Rmeity, Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Impactiv
A well-designed alumni mentoring program can transform lives, shaping career paths, strengthening skills, and giving students meaningful exposure to real-world insights. At the same time, it offers alumni something just as powerful: a sense of giving back. After more than a decade of working in mentorship, I thought I knew what to expect from these programs. Last week, at the Athar Cohort 1 Closing Ceremony at Khalifa University, I was reminded that the most important outcomes are often the ones you don’t put in the proposal.
What the Numbers Said About Athar
I had read the impact report before walking into the room. By every measurable indicator, the first cohort of Athar — Khalifa University’s alumni-student mentoring program — was a success:
- 340 mentoring sessions delivered
- 3,000+ activities logged on the mentoring platform
- 93% overall satisfaction rate from participants
What I wasn’t prepared for was the room itself — the energy, and the genuine connection between mentors and mentees. The data told one story; the closing ceremony told another.
Built for Students: Measurable Impact on Career Readiness
We designed Athar to serve students. That was the intent, and the promise we made to Khalifa University. The results show the program delivered on that promise:
- 95% of mentors observed visible skill development in their mentee
- 82% of students reported clarity on their career direction, where there had been fog
- 91% of mentee-defined goals were achieved by the end of the cohort
Six months ago, many of these students walked in carrying real uncertainty: which career to pursue, whether to commit to a Master’s degree, how to position themselves in a competitive UAE job market. At the closing ceremony, they were standing differently. Straighter, somehow — like people who had made decisions rather than postponed them.
Transformative for Mentors: The Outcome We Didn’t Plan For
What I hadn’t anticipated was what happened on the other side of those conversations. The mentors changed too. Mentoring, it turns out, is rarely a one-way exchange:
- 96% of mentors found mentoring through Athar personally rewarding and signed up to mentor again in Cohort 2
- 79% reported a stronger sense of belonging to Khalifa University than when they joined the program
One mentor put it simply:
“It has been a rewarding experience to the extent that it led me to discover myself and change my mindset towards helping people.”
— Athar Mentor, Cohort 1
Another set new personal goals after watching his mentee evolve. They came to give. They received something they hadn’t budgeted for — a reconnection to something they had quietly missed, and a reminder of why the path they walked mattered, because someone younger is now walking it, asking the same questions they once asked, and finding their footing because of what was passed down.
Why Structured Alumni Mentoring Programs Matter
These mentors are professionals — busy people with full lives. Many had drifted from their alma mater in the years since graduation, as most of us do. A structured alumni mentoring program gave them a meaningful, low-friction way back. Athar didn’t just connect students to careers; it brought alumni back home.
This is the quiet superpower of well-designed university mentorship programs in the UAE and across the GCC: they serve students visibly, and they re-engage alumni invisibly — strengthening institutional belonging, talent pipelines, and community in the same motion.
Thank You to the Athar Community
To every mentor who gave their time, and every mentee who stepped out of their comfort zone and committed fully to the journey — thank you. You proved, again, that alumni mentoring programs are built for students, but transformative for everyone they touch.
Looking to launch an alumni mentoring program at your university?
Impactiv co-designs structured, AI-powered UniMentor programs for universities across the UAE and GCC — anchored on the UN SDGs and aligned with ESG priorities. Explore our programs or connect with our team to design a program that delivers measurable outcomes for your students, alumni, and institution.
About the Author
Dr. Maya Rmeity is Co-Founder and Head of Operations at Impactiv, where she designs and delivers structured mentorship programs for corporates and universities across the UAE, GCC, and Lebanon.