Mentoring is a term increasingly used among the players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, although mentoring and the figure of the mentor are certainly nothing new.
In my case, throughout my education and career I have enjoyed the support of several professionals whom I consider my mentors, and now, after 20 years of experience, I’m daring to be the one offering mentoring to entrepreneurs.
My first contact came thanks to joining AJE Madrid (the Madrid Association of Young Entrepreneurs) as managing director in 2011, where as soon as I arrived I signed a partnership agreement with the Fundación Madri+d and the Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Madrid (Madrid Chamber of Commerce and Industry) to launch the “Red de mentores de Madrid” (Madrid Mentors Network).
After the first edition, the network has kept going thanks to the support of the Fundación Madri+d and the director of the mentors network, Julio Rodríguez, managing partner of AVANDA Consultores, who has extensive previous experience in mentoring.
But what is mentoring?
Here are 3 well-documented definitions via the website mentoring.es
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Mentoring is the offering of advice, information or guidance by a person who has experience and skills, for the benefit of another person’s personal and professional development. Via HARVARD BUSINESS ESSENTIALS “Coaching and Mentoring”.
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Mentoring consists of developing, nurturing, sharing and helping in a relationship in which one person invests time, know-how and effort in enhancing another person’s development, in terms of knowledge and skills, and in responding to critical needs in that person’s life in ways that prepare the individual for greater productivity or success in the future. Via Gordon F. Shea, “Mentoring: Helping Employees Reach Their Full Potential” (1994)
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Mentoring achieves the development of the inner power of individuals that comes from values-based behaviour, mental agility and creativity, together with excellent knowledge management, risk-taking, problem-solving ability, a passion for business results and the ability to build teams. Via José Miguel Martinez Urquijo, former Iberdrola executive and a mentor on the Universidad de Deusto Mentoring Programme.
Why mentoring for entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs, men and women, are those crazy, brave people who throw themselves into launching their own business, where they will come up against a good number of obstacles along the way. Some will be starting a business for the first time, others will be starting out in a sector they may not master, others will be going it almost alone with no team and no partners…
The mentor, a person who will certainly have some grey hairs or plenty of experience, sits down with the project’s founder and helps them gain new perspectives on their business, tackle problems differently thanks to their experience, or opens doors for them to reach new contacts, investors and new business. Pure networking, in other words 😉
A mentor is in no way a coach or a consultant, and their work is unpaid.
How does the mentors network work?
The network’s service consists of regular meetings between entrepreneurs and mentors, together with training on their respective roles. The aim is to help these relationships have a practical, results-oriented approach and to make sure the meetings meet the expectations of quality and results generated by both parties.
It is based on the mutual willingness and interest of both parties, with no monetary payment for the mentors and at no cost to the entrepreneurs, seeking to encourage the creation of bonds and relationships that can continue in the long term, beyond the time set for each mentoring relationship.
Once the service has ended, and if they consider it has been useful for their personal development, the entrepreneurs who have been supported commit to supporting future entrepreneurs with their knowledge, skills or services. There is a confidentiality agreement between the parties from the start of the process.
And is mentoring addictive?
Without a doubt. At first I acted as a mere observer in setting up the network and lent a hand in selecting some of the mentors. Later on, without realising it, some entrepreneurs approached me to ask me to give them a hand in launching their projects.
My first formal collaboration has been as a mentor at MET Community. MET Community is an international collaborative platform with a presence in Spain, the USA and Latin America, made up of leading professionals who want to contribute to business development by promoting diversity, female entrepreneurship and social innovation. Here I have mentored Ingrit Moya, the CEO of Bleep Card.
The second collaboration has been with the Fundación Inlea and its LinktoStart programme, which I have known and supported since 2010. In this case the project fits me like a glove: a platform for visualising the attendees at events and courses, Meetmaps.
It never stops, and these have followed:
Delusse, an app that becomes your personal assistant if you are an executive who travels frequently.
Mingles, the most fun way to master English: having a drink with native teachers in the best bars in your city. Here is a post I dedicated to these stars.
Quedamus, a platform for creating and promoting your events while making it easier for the attendees to network.
Insulclock, the next revolution in improving the quality of life of diabetics and people who need to inject themselves with medication every day (type 1 diabetes, growth hormone, multiple sclerosis…).
So you know: if you’re starting a business, don’t go it alone, we can help you here, and if you want to be a mentor, don’t hesitate to sign up. We have a LinkedIn group where we can tell you more about mentoring and what we do.
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