Mentor-Driven Capital – Africa 2023

Mentoring for Entrepreneurial Success

Are you an established business professional, entrepreneur, or investor with some time on your hands? Do you want to play a bigger role in the exciting startup ecosystem? Do you want to make a tangible difference in the lives of entrepreneurs and their journeys?

Then, apply to become a mentor in the VC4A Mentor-Driven Capital Program Women-Edition this year.

‘Mentor-driven capital’ is one of VC4A’s approaches to creating value for startup ecosystems around the world. It’s about finding and supporting motivated and experienced professionals like you to share the knowledge, experience, and network you’ve acquired over your career with promising entrepreneurs through the VC4A Mentorship Marketplace. As you support your mentee on his/her entrepreneurial journey, you get keen insights into the local startup ecosystem and hone your own mentoring, business & leadership skills.

This program aims to boost the ability of business women as a high-powered mentor through the VC4A Mentor-Driven Capital framework. You and selected fellow business leaders will receive expert guidance, training, and hands-on expert sessions around mentoring, and join interactive discussions on topics like mentoring founders for fundraising, corporate partnership building, and angel investing all through the comprehensive framework facilitated by fellow women experts.

This year, the Mentor-Driven Capital program is fully women led and focused on bossing women mentors and investors. One potential reason is the limited representation of women in key roles in investment funds, angel networks, entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) and mentor networks.

Previous expert-led sessions by experienced angel investors featured thought leaders such as Tomi Davies – Chief Investment Officer at GreenTec Capital Partners, Tarek El-Kady – Founder of Alex Angels, Mrs. Maya Horgan Famodu, Founder & Partner at Ingressive Capital, Dr. Ayman Ismail – Associate Professor of entrepreneurship at the American University of Cairo, Mrs. Yemi Keri – Founder of Rising Tide Africa and Kola Aina – Founder of Ventures Platform, among many others.

Overview

ClosedDays leftHours leftHour left Minutes left

September 5, 2023

Program dates	Mar 1 - Apr 30, 2023
Organizer	VC4A
Targets	Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia
Sectors	Sector agnostic

Mentor-Driven Capital – Africa 2023

431 followers

Followed by Suhaybwinner, Nasra and more

Share this page:

Program Perks

What you’ll get out of it:

Attend expert-led sessions on essential mentorship and startup-related topics.
A mentorship guide and online training materials.
Access peer-to-peer learning through expert discussions, group sessions, and networking opportunities.
Get matched with Africa-based founders with mentorship needs through the VC4A Mentorship Marketplace.
Access partner organizations’ demo days and invite-only events like the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit.

You will also get complimentary access to major startups’ and partners’ events.

What We Expect From You

The program is open to a maximum of 30 (aspiring) women business mentors from African countries or those with strong ties with – and interest in the continent. The only thing you need to invest during the approx. 2-month program is 4-5 hours per month of your valuable time and knowledge!

Selection Criteria:

You are based in Africa or closely affiliated with the continent.
You are a senior business professional, entrepreneur, and/or investor with 10+ years of experience.
You are interested in the startup ecosystem and keen to support startup companies.
You can attend the 5 virtual online bootcamp sessions and expert sessions between March and April 2023 (each session is approx. 1-1.5 hours, totals about 3-4 hours/month).
You are interested in offering mentorship post the program to African startups through the VC4A Mentorship Marketplace.

What previous MDC graduates and experts say about the program:

“Mentoring helps to get out of your daily routine, make new connections and get new perspectives” Fayelle Ouane – Managing Director at SUGUBA
“It’s key to help the entrepreneur get access to corporate clients by making the right introductions at the right time to the right decision maker so the entrepreneur can tell the right message” Kenza Lahlou – Managing Partner at Outlierz Ventures
“I see a lot of businesses every day, but it’s different when you’re more hands-on, to actually be in touch with the entrepreneurs. I loved it.” Habiba Helmy – Arab Bank Egypt.
“The value from the exchanges with the mentor participants has been huge. One mentor has joined one of the angel networks I am involved with, and I connected a startup that one of the mentors was working with to another angel network. The programme is really effective in generating support for entrepreneurs – both funding and mentoring.” Umulinga Karangwa – Angel Investor & Fund Manager.

Timeline

Application deadline: 31st of January 2023

If you’re interested in joining the program as a mentor, please create a VC4A account and/or sign in to your account, and hit the apply button to submit your application before the 31st of January. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted separately the following week. Contact Akram Eladwy if you would like to discuss this opportunity in more detail.

Note: We plan the kick-off session on the 1st of March, 2023 and the closing session by the 30th of April, 2023.

Make a tangible contribution to promising startups in Africa and become a business mentor today!

About the Work In Progress! Alliance

This program is part of the “Work In Progress!” project. The goal of “Work in Progress!” is to improve the economic prospects of young men and women in Egypt, Nigeria, and Somalia, create jobs and stimulate entrepreneurship by improving the skills of young people, strengthening small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and creating an enabling environment. Work in Progress! Alliance partners include Oxfam, Hanze University, VC4A, and Butterfly Works.