The Cost of Trust: Why EGA Chose to Verify Its Own Organisation

By Richard Mensah, Global Director, EGA Mentorship International

Trust is not built by what an organisation says about itself. It is built by what it is willing to verify.

When we appointed nine leaders at EGA Mentorship International, I instructed our Research & Policy Officer, Bright Eghan, to begin a structured verification process. At the same time, I conducted an independent verification of the information provided.

The instruction was simple: nothing should be published simply because someone told us it was true.

We checked backgrounds, reviewed information and questioned anything that required clarification. Where evidence was insufficient, we did not rush to publish.

This was intentional.

As EGA evolves into an international opportunity institution, our standards must evolve with it. We cannot ask partners, young people and the wider public to trust our work while failing to apply the same level of scrutiny to ourselves.

Verification takes time. But credibility takes longer to build and seconds to lose.

Our approach is therefore clear:

Verify first. Publish second.

This is the culture we are building at EGA: evidence before claims, integrity before publicity, and accountability before recognition.

Richard Mensah
Global Director
EGA Mentorship International