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In Exchange is a series of stories about people in the sport for development community learning, building and growing together. These stories explore how mentorship and shared exchange can shape leadership, ideas and impact.
Inside one Innovation Hub Enterprise365 pairing, where curiosity, collaboration and shared problem-solving helped an idea evolve in unexpected ways.
Joanna Lester came into mentorship with a question hanging over Power Meri’s future.
Rooted in Papua New Guinea, Power Meri is a social enterprise exploring new ways to create opportunities for women through rugby league and community-led enterprise. But sustaining it as a side project, without funding to employ staff in-country, was becoming increasingly difficult.
“Before the mentorship I was unsure about the future direction of Power Meri,” Joanna said.
That uncertainty became the starting point for her Enterprise365 mentorship with Diana Teresa Parra-Sánchez of Fundación Gold Sports. Diana approached the mentorship with expertise in fundraising, wellbeing and education, adapting her guidance to Joanna’s context as Power Meri began exploring sustainable tourism.
Joanna, Director of Power Meri, is part of Enterprise365, a strand of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub, a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee, Women Win and Beyond Sport. One aspect of the strand pairs social enterprise leaders using sport to advance social change with mentors who support them in strengthening strategy, sustainability and leadership.
What emerged through those conversations was not a fixed answer, but a new direction.
An early concept centered largely on merchandise began to evolve into something broader: community-based tourism centered in local culture and women’s leadership, with women involved in rugby league serving as facilitators and cultural ambassadors. The model is designed to create tourism experiences while generating sustainable income and opportunities within the community.
For Joanna, the shift did not happen in one breakthrough moment.
“It was more a gradual realization over several mentor meetings,” she said, “by approaching the big questions facing Power Meri in a methodical manner, it would be easier to determine our strategic direction.”
That methodical approach became one of the mentorship’s most lasting takeaways.
Through an exercise introduced during the program, Joanna began using a scoring approach to evaluate strategic options and make decisions in a more structured way.
“It’s an activity we did during the mentorship, and I’m already talking about using the same approach to evaluate other decisions we’ll need to make in the near future,” she said.
Diana saw the change unfold over time.
“Joanna developed a stronger sense of ownership of her project,” she said. “Even though her initial idea evolved, she became more confident and aligned with a clear focus.”
What impressed Diana most was Joanna’s willingness to keep refining the idea rather than forcing an early concept to hold.
“Her openness to redefining the idea helped strengthen the direction the project was taking,” she said.
That openness shaped Diana’s mentoring style as well.
“I started by understanding her project in depth and identifying her specific needs,” she said. “From there, I adapted my guidance to connect with her context, especially integrating tourism and digital tools.”
And at a certain point, both say the relationship shifted.
“When we began co-developing the tourism approach, it felt more like a peer exchange,” Diana said. “We were building ideas together, which made the process more collaborative and enriching.”
Joanna describes it as a “gear change from mentoring to peer exchange.”
That shift came naturally. As Power Meri began exploring sustainable tourism, the work aligned closely with Diana’s own research and experience.
“It was a happy coincidence,” Joanna said.
The exchange moved in both directions.
Joanna says Diana gained a deeper understanding of Papua New Guinea, the realities of doing business there and the role rugby league can play as a vehicle for development, particularly for women.
And Joanna came away with something equally valuable: not just a clearer direction for Power Meri, but a new way of approaching uncertainty itself.
The idea evolved.
So did the relationship around it.
And perhaps that is what sits at the heart of this exchange — not mentorship as a transfer of expertise, but as a space where ideas can be challenged, shaped and, sometimes, built together.
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Cultivate an ecosystem of innovators and social enterprises across the sport, social impact and tech sectors through the Olympism365 Hub. Launched with seed funding provided by the IOC, Beyond Sport and Women Win are seeking partners to drive further innovation.
If you are interested in investing in the Hub and our innovators, contact us at [email protected]
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