Within the yr because the National Bank donated $2 million to MentorConnect, the enterprise mentorship program has seen continued progress. Housed at Concordia’s District 3 Innovation Hub, the initiative helps startups transition their corporations into established companies with the assist of skilled volunteer mentors.
The MentorConnect framework launched at District 3 in 2020 and now boasts 32 mentors, 17 energetic startup groups and 14 alumni small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Mentors have offered greater than 1,000 hours of companies this yr alone.
This system supplies an inclusive, collaborative setting for visionaries to scale up their companies. Licensed from the MIT Venture Mentoring Service in Boston, MentorConnect’s distinctive pairing of three mentors with every startup ensures that their invaluable experience and data is shared with the mentees.
“MentorConnect is a really wealthy place when it comes to data since you’re bringing within the chemistry of the co-founders and their mentors,” says Xavier-Henri Hervé, BEng 87, DSc 11, co-founder and govt director at District 3.
The mentors are typically specialists of their subject and be a part of this system with the need to offer again to the group with out bias or self-interest. MentorConnect fosters a secure area that permits new ventures to maximise their potential as they collaborate with seasoned mentors who can not take fairness or spend money on the businesses they’re mentoring. They’re additionally certain by confidentiality agreements.
Since Marion Kressmann joined the MentorConnect group as director of program improvement in January 2022, she has seen a gentle enhance in purposes from startups searching for to speed up their journey to being established companies. Kressmann says she got here on board with the purpose of garnering extra visibility for this system and making it shine inside the Quebec entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“MentorConnect is a uncommon alternative for a busy entrepreneur to get some perspective on their enterprise,” she explains. “Greater than an advisory committee, it permits for the entrepreneur to share each a part of their journey with their mentors and obtain the perfect recommendation in return.”
‘Invaluable for first-time entrepreneurs’
Cedric Piasco is president and co-founder of AzurDev, a affected person engagement platform devoted to enhancing expertise high quality in hospitals and seniors’ properties. “MentorConnect helps us to speed up the event of our firm by focusing extra on market demand,” Piasco shares.
NameShouts is one other firm that has benefited from MentorConnect’s companies. The net instrument is simplifying the best way folks make first connections by an intuitive and common identify pronunciation service.
“MentorConnect is invaluable for first-time entrepreneurs,” says Naureen Anwar, CEO and co-founder of NameShouts. “You get customized teaching from mentors who’ve been within the trenches – they can provide you tailor-made recommendation relating to your organization technique and course.”
Timothée Régnier is co-founder of RecharjMe, an organization providing on-site relaxation cabins to re-energize workers at work.
“The work periods with our mentors at MentorConnect permit us to develop a extra strategic and long-term imaginative and prescient, which is important for sustainable progress,” Régnier says.
The Nationwide Financial institution’s donation has been pivotal in supporting the development of startups like these within the final yr, particularly throughout economically tumultuous occasions. Thanks partly to the donation, the MentorConnect group will proceed to keep up and construct its knowledge-rich setting.
If you’re a startup founder seeking to scale and transition to a longtime agency, apply now to MentorConnect, supplied by Concordia’s District 3 Innovation Hub.