The best mentoring leaves the decision with the team.

The most useful thing a mentor can leave behind is a team that knows what to do next.

Last weekend, I joined fellow mentors at the Social Impact Catalyst edition of SDG Open Hack in Singapore. This week, I also joined the kickoff session as one of the mentors for ASEAN SOAR Together, the ASEAN Foundation programme working with TikTok Shop to support small businesses across Southeast Asia.

SOAR stands for Supporting Our Artisans and Retailers. Its focus includes helping businesses develop practical capabilities in e-commerce, digital marketing and live selling. Programme details

I want to give people something useful from my experience, while leaving them confident enough to make their own decisions.

That takes some restraint. When you have spent years building businesses, it is tempting to recognise a familiar situation and reach straight for the answer. Sometimes a direct answer is exactly what someone needs. But what worked in one market, with one customer base and one set of resources, may need adapting somewhere else.

Before offering advice, I need to understand those differences.

Three questions help:

• Who are you trying to help, and what matters to them?
• What needs to be true for your idea to work?
• What could you test next with the time and resources you have?

Those questions are as relevant to a student developing a sustainability idea as they are to a retailer exploring a new sales channel or a regional team considering a commercial opportunity.

For leaders, there is a further responsibility. People need enough context to make a decision, clear boundaries around what they can commit to, and support when something needs escalating. Encouraging ownership means giving people the conditions to exercise it.

That is what I want to offer as a mentor too. Share relevant experience, challenge an assumption or suggest something practical. Then give the team room to decide what they will do with it.

I enjoy contributing to these programmes in Singapore and across the region. They also keep me learning. Someone building a business in a different market may understand their customers in ways I don’t. A student may spot an opportunity I would have overlooked.

My experience is useful, but so is knowing when to listen.

When you give advice, how do you help someone become more confident in their next decision?