Get trained as a volunteer startup mentor and make a difference by mentoring young entrepreneurs. By offering 1h of your time every week during 4 months, you will help them turn their ideas into viable businesses.
As part of Opportunities for Youth in Africa (OYA), a program created to accelerate job creation in the agri-food sector, IDEA App will incubate 30 agripreneurs in Kenya and Zambia.
IDEA App is a four month intensive online incubation program designed specifically for Kenyan and Zambian agripreneurs with a business concept who are looking for mentorship and coaching to successfully develop and grow their business.
This program is made possible by the collaboration of UNIDO, the FAO, the Italian Cooperation and Bridge for Billions.
Develop a mentoring relationship with an impactful young entrepreneurs in Kenya or Zambia.
Join a global network of more than 1000 mentors globally, top professionals that share your interests.
Learn everything you need about the latest entrepreneurship methodologies and get a Mentoring Certificate.
Develop your own abilities as a mentor while you support a growing project: leadership, empathy, innovation methodology, etc.
Mentor from anywhere and at any time through our online platform.
Support entrepreneurs that are facing the most complex challenges of our time.
Friday, 12th of November 2021
Send us your application, we want to know more about you and your motivations to become a mentor
Please apply from a computer or tablet and not smartphone.
We will review all the applications and we will select 50 mentors to participate in this edition of the program
If selected, you will be invited to a Training Session to where we cover your role as mentor, how to use the incubation platform, its methodology and much more. Also a good chance to network with fellows mentors 😉
"Matching" in IDEA App is a fun process in which you get to meet several volunteer business mentors and decide which one is the best fit for you. During 2 weeks you'll have 30min initial meeting with several mentors, and you will eventually rank them by order or preference. We'll then finalize who is your final "match": the one mentor who will guide you all along the programme.
Meet weekly with your mentee for the duration of the program to go over their business plan. Don’t worry! Our program will guide your mentoring step-by-step through 8 business modules: From helping your mentee polish their value proposition to the development of their growth plan.
IDEA App is a program that has helped me a lot and taught me a lot about my project. I thank the whole team. Without IDEA App, I would never have been able to get by. “
Founder of AD Company
IDEA App was an exceptional experience, an effective platform, mentors available, what more could you ask for to be successful. “
Founder of Aoudy Food
IDEA App allowed me to have a clearer vision of my activity in the years to come, but also to know the expenses and the income that I must realize in the next 2 years, it also helped me to define the services that I intend to put in place for the expansion of my activity. Thank you to the whole team for this great experience and especially to my mentor Sarah. “
Founder of Yaleen
The program offers a gamified and step by step experience that allows entrepreneurs to create their business plans and validate their model. Far from theory, the pedagogy pushes them to formulate their ideas and answer the tough questions.
It invites them to “get out there”, talk to people, research, and validate their ideas. As mentor, you will be there for them every week to support them by challenging assumptions and offering a fresh perspective.
At the end of the 4 months, you will get your personal Mentoring Certificate that certifies that you are a successfully trained mentors who provided 20+ hours of mentorship and became proficient to mentor entrepreneurs on those topics: value proposition, competitors mapping, identification of key stakeholders, business modelling, marketing, pricing strategies, financial forecasting, impact planning and growth strategy.
Mentor applicants should show a passion for helping aspiring entrepreneurs and should be ready to commit in order to ensure quality mentorship and a productive business relationship. Mentors can always choose when to work with a project or not, but once a commitment is made, the time requirement is approximately 1.5 hrs per week for the duration of the entrepreneur’s incubation program (4 months).
Being a mentor will benefit you in several ways. First, it will allow you to meet and connect with entrepreneurs working on relevant problems. It will also enable you to develop your own skills as a mentor, exposing yourself to the latest innovation and entrepreneurship methodologies, while helping a startup business to grow.
Mentoring on IDEA App Armenia Incubation Program is an impactful experience that you can do from pretty much anywhere where you have the internet.
As a mentor, you will guide your entrepreneur throughout our 4-month structured program, helping them a minimum of 1h/week — you are of course free to dedicate more time. You will be the person who can understand the ins and outs of their business and, week after week, help them to validate their strategy for each critical stage, from targeting the right customers, to building a 3-year growth plan. You will support your entrepreneur through virtual collaboration on the platform as well as video chats once a week. We also encourage any connection or extra resource that you can share with them. Our program is made of 8 business tools:
These tools will guide you as well as the entrepreneur in effectively covering and validating each critical aspect of the business planning process.
No, we are looking for mentors with previous experience in self-employment experience. If you have been or are a small business owner, entrepreneur or solopreneur willing to support young entrepreneurs, this program is perfect for you!
Yes — once you have officially been accepted as a mentor, you will be invited to follow an onboarding training where we’ll explain our innovation-based entrepreneurship methodology and how our platform works. You’ll get the chance to meet other mentors, and of course we’ll be here to answer all of your questions! You will also join an online community of mentors to spark conversations, share extra resources, and keep learning!
Yes, you can! Our only ask is that you be realistic with your time commitment: we don’t want anyone to overcommit or raise expectations for the other party that they won’t be able to meet.
Our platform has been built to facilitate collaboration. Once you have access to the workspace of an entrepreneur you’ll be able to work together through comments on every aspect of their business plan, and you’ll also have access to your own team video room embedded in our platform, so that every week you can meet and talk as if you were in the same room, in just a few clicks. Apart from your private project workspace, you will have an online group call with all of the participants from your cohort (mentors and entrepreneurs) to share articles and resources, ask questions, and overcome challenges together. Lastly, you’ll also have one-to-one messaging with your mentee(s) available, and each team can decide (or not) to use alternative communication channels such as phone, WhatsApp, email, Slack, etc.
Start your application process by creating a Mentor Account and filling out our application form. We’ll notify you once your application has been approved and we’ll invite you to an onboarding call to give you a warm welcome, acquaint you to your role and our methodology and explain how to explore projects.
Being a mentor for this program is a 100% volunteer experience in which you’ll impact the life of an entrepreneur when it’s most needed and learn top-notch entrepreneurship methodologies.
Yes, mentors who successfully complete the incubation program may request a certificate
Can’t find your question here?
Connect directly with Julie, Program Manager, to ask her in writing or in a quick meeting. Whenever you see fit!
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