PROGRAM Partners
PROGRAM Partners
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and Bridge for Billions, joined forces to create an incubation program that will support up to 50 early-stage enterprises from Vietnam with the potential to promote sustainable timber trade in the region.
The Sustainable Forest Trade Incubation Program has been created to support the emergence of commercially-viable, community-inclusive and climate-resilient businesses that support the emergence of commercially-viable, community-inclusive, and climate-resilient businesses focused on sustainable forest trade. The program seeks to attract projects that show robust revenue generation perspectives and ambition to reach a critical mass. We aim to build a diverse and attractive cohort demonstrating commercial potential and wide adoption of nature-positive business models.
This program is part of the UN-REDD Lower Mekong Initiative on Sustainable Forest Trade.
Connect with the entrepreneur behind the project you are most interested in and be part of the responsible developmentby supporting early-stage ventures in their journey to creating a positive environmental, economic and social impact across Vietnam.
As a volunteer mentor, you'll be provided with a clear structure and regular check-ins. Our program blends robust online content with weekly mentorship sessions between you and your mentee to truly create successful companies.
Develop your hard and soft skills to become a great mentor. Past participants report increasing their listening, leadership, coaching abilities, critical thinking as well as business skills.
Our program is 100% online and allows you to have a flexible schedule. Collaborate from anywhere at any time through our online platform. No barriers, limits, or excuses: just internet connection.
Upon completing the 4 months of mentoring, you will earn a certificate recognizing all the skills you've developed on the way and the meaningful impact you've had.
Be part of a community of like-minded earth champions building solutions to create sustainable forest trading practices Keep in touch with other mentors like you supporting entrepreneurs worldwide!
DEADLINE: june, 11th 2023
If you are one of the selected mentors, you will be invited to participate in a training session to welcome you to the incubation program. In this space, we will cover your role as a mentor, the use of the online incubation platform, and solve any questions you might have.
Take part in our matching process! You will have the opportunity to meet online with different entrepreneurs. Once you have met several entrepreneurs, both you and them will send us your rankings in order to let us know who you want to work with. After that, we will make the best mentor-mentee pairs.
The Sustainable Forest Trade Incubation Program is a business support program for enterprises that put sustainable forest trading practises at the heart of their business model and operations.
Its main goal is the promotion of sustainable forestry, leading to improved livelihoods, reduced poverty and uplifting communities.
During the duration of the program, you will have to meet once a week with your entrepreneur for 1 hour mentoring meetings. In addition to that, we recommend always dedicating at least 30 extra minutes to review and validate their progress on the platform, and going to the meetings with prior preparation.
We advise you to have a laptop or desktop computer and preferably one of these browsers: Google Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox. However, our platform is also suitable for cell phones and tablets.
Also, we expect you to have a stable and reliable internet connection both for your weekly review on the platform and to participate in the calls with your mentee via video call.
To facilitate the matching process between mentors and mentees, or as we call it “matching”, we have created the process of “organic matching”.
You will have the opportunity to meet the different participating projects, invite them to a “Virtual Coffee” to get to know the ideas in detail and then both parties can decide if they want to work together or not. This way we make sure that we create solid and lasting mentoring relationships.
A mentor is the person guiding the entrepreneurs throughout the program — someone who understands the intricacies of their businesses. Week after week, you will help your mentee with validating the strategy and designing a growth plan.
As a mentor, you will offer your support using Bridge for Billions’ online incubation platform and meet with your entrepreneur once a week outside the platform (typically using video calls).
All mentors in this program are volunteers. All mentors who complete the program will receive a Mentoring Certificate.
Yes, however, we ask that you be realistic with your time commitment. We don’t want anyone to over-commit or set expectations that they will not be able to meet due to lack of time.
As a mentor in the program, you will have a positive impact on the life of a Vietnamese entrepreneur and the economy and job creation of the country. You will meet and connect with innovative ideas and develop your mentoring skills, gaining exposure to the latest innovation and entrepreneurship methodologies while helping a start-up grow.
Connect with our program managers
Alexandra Martins
Bridge for Billions Program Manager for the Sustainable Forest Trade Incubation Program
Nguyen Bich Hang
Manager, Forest Sector Transformation & Sustainable Forest Trade in the Lower Mekong Region, WWF-Việt Nam