Beyond Borders: How diaspora mentoring can help Wales thrive

Wales is home to a wealth of talent, and so too is the wider Welsh community spread across the world.

National Mentoring Day offers an opportunity to think about how those connections can be strengthened, enabling people to share their knowledge, experience and networks wherever they happen to live.

In February 2025, GlobalWelsh published Brain Drain to Brain Gain: Mobilising the Welsh diaspora as agents of economic change a research report supported by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Drawing on a survey of 1,709 respondents and 21 qualitative interviews, the research explored the skills, experiences, connections and willingness to contribute of Welsh people living beyond Wales.

One finding stood out: 62% of survey respondents were willing to mentor others or engage in knowledge transfer. The willingness to mentor someone in Wales was particularly high among respondents with a doctorate (70%), followed by those with a master's degree (65%) and an undergraduate degree (61%).

They reveal something important: a substantial pool of global knowledge and experience is potentially available to Wales, even when the people who hold it live thousands of miles away.

The challenge is how to turn that willingness into meaningful action. 

"Mentoring offers a practical way to share that resource. It can help an emerging entrepreneur navigate the uncertainty of starting a business, a young professional build confidence in a new role, or an established business leader approach a growth challenge from a different perspective."

Turning global connections into local opportunity

People who build careers overseas acquire more than qualifications and professional experience. They develop international networks, encounter different ways of working, learn to navigate unfamiliar markets and gain perspectives that can be difficult to access locally. These experiences represent a valuable resource for the next generation of Welsh professionals, entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Mentoring offers a practical way to share that resource. It can help an emerging entrepreneur navigate the uncertainty of starting a business, a young professional build confidence in a new role, or an established business leader approach a growth challenge from a different perspective.

And it doesn’t require a return move. A regular online conversation can connect a person in Wales with expertise in Berlin, Singapore, Sydney or anywhere else in the world.

This is the thinking behind GlobalWelsh's MyMentor programme, which connects people across the Welsh community through one-to-one mentoring. Developed in 2020 by experienced senior HR experts and GlobalWelsh members Sara Harper-Holton and Catrin Asbrey, the programme enables members to find mentors or mentees according to their professional ambitions, experience and interests.

The model is deliberately flexible, member-led and open across industries and geographical boundaries. Mentors volunteer their time, bringing together professional expertise and a shared desire to see Wales and its people thrive.

But what does that look like in practice?

"Wales itself has considerable talent, experience and innovation to share. Mentoring can help those overseas remain connected to developments at home, explore collaborations and, where appropriate, consider returning."

MyMentor in action

The programme's published participant stories illustrate how mentoring can support people at different stages of their professional journeys.

Rosie Evans: Professional Development and Leadership Confidence

Based in Berlin, behavioural scientist Rosie Evans wanted to strengthen her understanding of human resources and the challenges facing senior HR professionals. She recognised that a deeper understanding of her clients' work would help her become a more effective consultant and progress towards leadership.

Through MyMentor, Rosie connected with Catrin Asbrey, an experienced HR director. Their regular online meetings gave Rosie a space to explore professional challenges, develop her understanding of the business context and build confidence in her own approach.

Rosie's story demonstrates that mentoring is not simply about telling someone what to do. It can help people recognise gaps in their knowledge, ask better questions and develop the confidence to take their next steps.

Read Rosie's MyMentor story >>

Adrian Sutton: Business Growth and Access to International Expertise

Adrian Sutton, founder and CEO of Swansea-based technology company Vortex IoT, sought mentoring while managing rapid growth, expanding his team and preparing the business for its next stage of development.

Through MyMentor, Adrian connected with Andrew Williams, then Group CEO of FTSE 100 company Halma. Their regular conversations provided reassurance, fresh perspectives on business growth and access to further expertise through Andrew's professional network.

For Adrian, the relationship helped him focus on long-term goals while navigating the immediate challenges of scaling a company.

This is an especially powerful example of how diaspora connections can benefit businesses operating in Wales. Expertise gained through an international career can be brought into a Welsh business without the mentor needing to relocate or take on a formal executive role.

Read Adrian's MyMentor story >>

These are programme-reported stories, not independent evaluations proving that mentoring alone caused particular outcomes. Their value lies in illustrating the different ways a well-matched mentoring relationship can support career development, entrepreneurship and business growth.

Together, they bring the survey findings to life.

Lessons from elsewhere

The potential of diaspora mentoring extends well beyond Wales.

An especially interesting international example comes from Kosovo, where the organisation GERMIN has worked to connect diaspora communities with opportunities to contribute to the country's development. I recently spoke with a colleague with first-hand experience of GERMIN’s work in Kosovo. Their insights highlight that effective diaspora engagement depends not only on matching expertise, but also on building trust, belonging and a shared sense of purpose.

As an independent NGO, GERMIN engaged diaspora communities outside government while advocating for policy change.  Operating independently of government allowed GERMIN to engage diaspora communities while also advocating for policy change. In my colleague’s experience, this independence helped establish trust among people who might have been less willing to engage directly with government.

GERMIN sought to connect diaspora expertise with local needs, from employment and skills development to opportunities for young people. Its wider work has included peer-to-peer mentoring, support for women in local politics and professional knowledge exchange, illustrating how mentoring can form part of a broader approach to development.

My colleague also highlighted the challenge of building and maintaining a reliable diaspora database. Identifying talent is only the first step; sustained engagement requires ongoing communication, relevant opportunities and visible impact.

Although Wales’s context differs significantly from Kosovo’s, GERMIN offers transferable lessons: build trust through credible intermediaries, nurture a sense of belonging, and create meaningful pathways for diaspora members to connect their global expertise with local needs.

In Wales, MyMentor provides one practical expression of these principles through individual mentoring relationships. The wider opportunity is to connect such relationships with a broader ecosystem of opportunities for Welsh businesses, young professionals, universities and communities.

Mentoring should not be viewed simply as a one-way transfer of expertise from the diaspora to Wales. Wales itself has considerable talent, experience and innovation to share. Mentoring can help those overseas remain connected to developments at home, explore collaborations and, where appropriate, consider returning. At its best, it creates a two-way exchange that strengthens both Wales and its global community.

National Mentoring Day is a reminder that mentoring benefits not only individuals but communities. In an increasingly connected world, it can also help countries and regions access knowledge that would otherwise remain out of reach.

Wales already has a global community with the knowledge, connections and willingness to contribute. The opportunity is to turn that potential into relationships and relationships into opportunity.