A French cross-company mentoring programme modelled on the UK’s FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme is gathering momentum, fuelled by new government legislation. In January, President Sarkozy announced that French listed companies will be subject to quotas unless they increase the representation (currently 8 per cent) of women on conseils d’administration (boards). The programme, Board- Women Partners, was set up by Marie-Claude Peyrache, a France Télécom executive, Véronique Préaux-Cobti, a director general in Diafora and Anne Bouverot, a mentee on the British programme. To date,...