Visa and Bridge for Billions invite you to mentor innovative start-ups.
Leverage your expertise and Bridge for Billions’ online incubation program to support early-stage entrepreneurs in developing a business plan.
Bridge for Billions is a digital ecosystem of incubation programs that provides the right tools and guidance to early-stage entrepreneurs to develop their projects, facilitates access to mentorship, and offers a dynamic and impactful learning experience for founders and mentors.
The program relies on a scalable technology platform and a proven methodology so you can easily support a venture with the guidance of our structured program, over a period of 3.5 months.
Our active learning model facilitates the role of the mentor by providing a clear structure and resources explained in a simple and practical way.
You will have the opportunity to connect, meet and then choose the different projects of the selected entrepreneurs.
Expand your network by connecting with founders and mentors from around the world.
As a mentor, you will receive training and the same tools as entrepreneurs, and you will practice skills such as active listening and effective communication.
Support your project from anywhere in the world, at a time that suits you. Our program is 100% online.
Connect with like-minded profiles and work with courageous people who are working on some of the biggest challenges and opportunities.
Program Timeline
Tell us more about yourself and your professional profile by submitting your application below. Our team will evaluate your selection in the program.
We will review the completed applications to select mentors to participate in this edition of the program.
Start the online incubation experience with mentoring sessions, work tools and structured development. You will have 3.5 months ( with a 2 week break for the holidays) to help your entrepreneur complete the incubation cycle and develop her validated business plan.
The Bridge for Billions methodology is based on developing a business plan from scratch while participants are surrounded by a supportive community: mentors, fellow entrepreneurs and our incubation team.
Our online incubation tools allow entrepreneurs to experiment, research and document their ideas step by step so that at the end of the program they can download their own business plan in PDF.
During the duration of the program, you will have to meet once a week with your entrepreneur for mentoring meetings for 1 hour. In addition to that, we recommend always dedicating at least 30 extra minutes to review progress on the platform, and go to the meetings prepared. Also, as the mentee completes each of the tools, you and/or your co-mentor should carefully review each section of the tool to validate the mentee’s work, this takes at least 1 extra hour.
You should be able to use a laptop or desktop computer (not a tablet or mobile phone) and preferably one of these browsers: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox. We expect you to have a strong and reliable internet connection both for your online work on the platform and to participate in the calls with your mentee via videoconference.
To facilitate the matching process between mentors and mentees, we have created the process of “organic matching”.
This way, 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.
Bridge for Billions and Visa have partnered with the goal of providing high quality entrepreneurship tools to African-American entrepreneurs. We believe that by providing this program at no cost, we are truly supporting them to unleash their potential and create their solution.
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