Esther Gloria Mbabazi knows the value of being mentored. She credits her older cousin, an agricultural economist, with encouraging her to pursue a degree in agriculture. “I always excelled in school, but my cousin kept an eye on me,” she recalls. “He shaped me from the word ‘go’, sitting me down and telling me to aim for the stars—so that’s exactly what I did. I went into agriculture with no second thoughts,” she says. “I knew during first year university that I want to be an agricultural economist.”