About GMI
Global Mentorship Initiative (GMI) is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to helping young professionals around the world successfully launch their careers. GMI began as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Digital Jobs Initiative, which aimed to create career opportunities for young graduates in high-unemployment areas. GMI’s founder, Jon Browning, served in a strategic leadership role with the initiative after a 24-year career at Microsoft.
He later co-launched the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition with the Rockefeller Foundation to promote digital job opportunities for youth in underserved communities. Jon developed the idea for GMI while working with job recruiters in Johannesburg, where first-generation graduates in high-unemployment areas struggled to find meaningful employment. Those with robust support networks, business connections and access to mentors had the advantage, leaving others behind. Founded in 2019, GMI aims to close this gap.
The GMI Difference
GMI created a structured career readiness mentorship program designed to help first-generation students and students with limited financial resources develop essential skills to stand out in today’s competitive job market. GMI partners with local universities, youth-serving organizations and multi-national corporations to match each student to a dedicated mentor who guides them through the GMI mentorship curriculum. Today, GMI’s global community includes over 10,000 students, more than 8,500 mentors and hundreds of partners in 100-plus countries. Each student’s success story highlights the potential within all of us and the transformative power of mentorship.
