Why every budding entrepreneur needs a mentorship programme
Mentorship programmes often act as enablers and provide the invisible spell that transforms aspiring and budding entrepreneurs into flourishing business moghuls.
One of the main reasons for the failure of startups is the lack of experience and competency of new entrepreneurs. This manifests in the lack of vision and the inability to find a profitable niche for their businesses. While entrepreneurship may definitely be a lucrative career path, it is rarely a walk in the park, and posits several turgid challenges of its own.
Entrepreneurs are valorised for defying prevalent norms and internalised inhibitions that hinder their expansion plans. Therefore, perhaps for anyone concerned about increasing the probability of survival and viability of a new business, these observations would suggest that proper support in terms of skills-building and development or having a mentor to guide entrepreneurs through the initial drudgery phase of the start-up becomes of utmost importance.
As an aspiring business leader, you’d often find yourself in situations where you might not know what to do next or how to revive your moxie from a mistake that could cost you your entire business.
In times like these, an expert, a savvy guide, or perhaps a mentor can help you chart an alternate strategy, help you pick yourself up and get back in the game or even stop you from making fatal mistakes or actions that warrant tremendous flak.
Simply put, challenges at every step are a part and parcel of entrepreneurship and having a good mentor will always help you tide over obstacles by turning bad decisions into good plans and will imbibe you with the confidence to move relentlessly towards stipulated objectives.
Some of the factors that bog down budding entrepreneurs that often compel them to forfeit their ventures are the following:
- Fear of failure
- Limited access to capital
- Weak institutional support
- Lack of experience to tackle problems
- Limited knowledge and information
Armed with the support of a good mentorship programme, budding entrepreneurs can not only increase their entrepreneurial awareness but can also gain access to correct variant of exposure, visibility and talent that would further enhance their skills and improve their entrepreneurial esprit de corps.
What is entrepreneurial mentoring?
Entrepreneurial mentoring involves a relatively experienced entrepreneur acting as a sagacious ‘critical friend’ or ‘guide’, helping to oversee the career and development of a novice entrepreneur who is inexperienced when it comes to dabbling with various facets simultaneously.
Each party brings different perspectives and knowledge, and in many cases, mentees will establish the goals of the relationship.
Entrepreneurial mentoring can be viewed as a business development process for owners/managers. This is based on the premise that there is a direct link between entrepreneurs’ actions and capabilities and the performance of their businesses.
In this context, entrepreneurial mentoring programmes focus on:
- The future of the mentee entrepreneur’s personal skill-set development
- The mentee’s professional development
- Supporting the mentee’s firm by providing pertinent advice and sharing similar experiences
- Increase the confidence of entrepreneurs gradually
- Teach them better human resource management and internal business processes
- Provide them with broader networking avenues and platforms
Mentorship programmes often act as enablers and provide the invisible spell that transforms aspiring and budding entrepreneurs into flourishing business moghuls.
With mentors themselves often being entrepreneurs who have built their empires through trials and tribulations, they have invaluable, coveted and relevant insights to share. Having said that, here are few reasons why budding entrepreneurs must undergo mentorship programmes:
- Mentorship is critical because it ingrains budding entrepreneurs with the expertise to drive growth and success among business owners while significantly contributing towards improving their performance.
- A good mentorship programme can amplify your chances of success in life and in business alike. The valuable connections, timely advice, occasional checks, and avuncular supervision - in tandem with the spiritual and moral guidance you gain as a result of undergoing a mentorship programme can help you gain a valuable jumpstart towards success.
- With the support of a good mentorship programme, not only do you get a boost of encouragement and confidence, but are also bombarded with valuable guidance in areas such as business registration, marketing, cost management and business networking, and a labyrinth of other convoluted laws. The support of experienced professionals can help you save time and money and keep the initial momentum
An entrepreneurial mentorship programme has the potential to instil and infuse valuable expertise and exterity in entrepreneurs and their firms, be it an upcoming startup or an established owner-managed business.
It can play an important part in the entrepreneurs’ ‘lifecycle’, which commences from the incipient stages of the startup and culminates when the idea manifests into reality and reaches its peak value. On account of the aforementioned traits, it is crucial that entrepreneurial mentorship programmes gain widespread acceptance and adoption to boost the potential of startups to withstand the ravages of time.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)