A note on mentoring.
Top on our “not-so-secret” recipe at VP is the very critical role of mentors.
Mentors are an integral part of the support framework we are working to curate for founders and we strongly believe the success of cohort company’s is greatly strengthened by a healthy mentorship program.
These amazingly accomplished men & women, graciously share real world battle-tested perspective. They invite founders to ask the right questions about the business and help broaden their world view. They challenge founders and make introductions that can be priceless.
Yesterday, we took another step forward in this direction by hosting our first of a series of mentor & startup mixer events for our incoming accelerator cohort, hosted by the fine folk @ CafeNeo. ☕️👍🏿
Major thanks to those of our newly minted & old mentors who came by yesterday; Editi Effiòng, Oluseun Onigbinde, Bankole Oluwafemi, Nanjira, Oo Nwoye, Iroiso Ikpokonte, Godwin Tom, Olumide Soyinbo and others. You guys make us so much better!
We certainly missed everyone else and hope to connect with everyone at the next mixer in Abuja. During the event we shared amongst other things — best practice tips for being a great VP mentor. Below is a condensed version of what being a mentor entails that I thought to share because we see a dire need for more mentors in our ecosystem and not just @VP.
Truly, to build the future we all long for, we need more experienced folk willing to help & guide the next wave of founders doing amazing work across the continent.
Hope you find this simple cheat sheet useful.
A great VP mentor;
- has domain expertise and deep experience in a particular area;
- dives deep with founders;
- utilizes the Socratic approach — they don’t force an opinion on the assigned startups;
- makes introductions when appropriate;
- doesn’t ask for anything in return;
- gets involved early in the program and stays involved until the end;
- respects the confidentiality of the startup;
- and shows empathy.
If you would like to learn more about mentoring company’s @ VP, please send us a note at mentors@venturesplatform.com
#Selah
