A pool of dedicated mentors, and investors from around the world are now able to get directly involved with venture creation and provide critical feedback to promising entrepreneurs across the African continent with VC4Africa’s online community – “ Mentorship Marketplace”: a vibrant and transparent peer-to-peer marketplace where entrepreneurs can add ‘mentor requests’ that are visible, searchable and actionable by a pool of registered mentors.
David van Dijk, Head of Entrepreneurship Development at VC4Africa said : “When an entrepreneur faces a challenge we are convinced there are members within the VC4Africa network who have the answers and are willing to lend their insight, expertise and experience.”
The Mentor Marketplace is free of charge. After a match is made through the platform the dialogue between Mentor and Entrepreneur continues via whichever channel is most suitable for them (email, phone, Skype, messenger, etc.).
To place a request the entrepreneur has to have a good (draft) business plan and related documents, and have a clear challenge that is well defined and measurable. For entrepreneurs who are still in the earlier stages and not yet ready to receive a mentor, VC4Africa hosts a growing number of self-help tools like business plan templates and the VC4Africa Questions & Answers service.