FAQ

Entrepreneurship is driving economic growth, particularly the high-growth high-impact ventures working to develop important innovations, products, and services. They introduce disruptive new business models that are needed to transform and modernize traditional industries. To ensure that innovative high-growth ventures realize their potential to yield high social and environmental impacts, VC4A believes it is imperative that founders have access to quality mentorship.

Through mentoring, business professionals offer more than just access to business opportunities and capital. They create value for startups by sharing the knowledge, experience, and network they’ve gained over the course of a career and actively supporting founders to maximize the return on investment. This is what we call ‘mentor-driven capital’.

1- In order to apply for mentorship, startup founders with existing VC4A venture profiles can access the mentorship marketplace from Explore tab > Mentorship Marketplace

Or using a direct link: https://mentors.vc4a.com/

2- Follow Request Wizard 1 – 3 to create a complete mentorship request:

All mentorship requests are screened and reviewed by a VC4A admin to ensure quality and compliance before getting approved.
Once your request is approved, It will have Active status.

The request will be automatically sent to the selected mentor who will either accept or reject it.

Please allow some time for the selected mentor to review and assess your request before accepting the relations.

The VC4A mentorship marketplace is not designed for direct fundraising. However, the wide pool of mentor profiles can offer the proper insights, knowledge, and experience that entrepreneurs can leverage to tackle business challenges, structure their business models, and improve their ability to execute and achieve business objectives which can increase the company’s chances of success.

Here are some tips and tricks you can use to promote your venture and attract funding through the VC4A platform.
1) Make sure your venture profile is complete featuring your logo, cover image, and an accurate description.
2) Do you have a pitch video? Add this to your venture profile as a great way to introduce yourself as an entrepreneur and your business.
3) Have you added links to your startup’s social media profiles (i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YoutTube)? This is a great way to keep people up to date on your activities and gives them a chance to learn more about you.
4) Make sure you are sharing the latest news and developments in the update section and traction tab. Let people know what’s happening and allow them to follow your adventure through the good and bad times.
5) Check out the documents tab on your venture profile. Have you uploaded a pitch deck or other documentation that helps investors understand what you are working on? Add a copy of your business’ certificate of incorporation or any other evidence that shows you are serious.
6) On your venture profile, you will see a short URL you can use to promote your venture profile across the web. Also, you can tweet your venture profile. Leverage these functionalities to get the word out!
7) Start fundraising for your startup on your venture profile to get featured on the platform and gain more visibility amongst the investors on VC4A.

As the VC4A team screens tens of mentorship requests by founders and business owners every day, we try to reduce delay/rejection by recipient mentors as much as we can. Therefore, we advise following a specific order and request structure to ensure a smooth intro to the mentors and get a quick reply to your business needs. Please see the example and guidelines below:

Introduction to mentor
Why do you want this mentor?

See example

Dear Jack, I reviewed your profile and I’m very interested to speak with you about my business and explore the possibility of receiving your mentorship. Especially your experience in my home market as well as your deep understanding of fintech solutions make me convinced I can learn a lot from you and I think you’ll be excited about our startup and the progress we have made to date.

Problem
Introduce your business and explain the challenge you are facing. What steps you have taken to try and address this challenge.

See example

The startup I founded is named ‘Eluda’. We are solving the problem small businesses in Central America are facing to receive payments and get access to credit to stock up when they are low on cash. The challenge we are facing is mainly around access to the market, where we have a modest budget and small team to reach our prospective customers.

Request
Explain the request you have for your prospective mentor. What steps you have taken to try and address this challenge.

See example

We have tried setting up a referral model, but it hasn’t given us the results we were hoping for yet. We are looking for a mentor who has experience with building brand presence and converting customers via (referral models or other) organic ways of growing the number of customers in the sales funnel.

VC4A understands that selecting the right mentor is essential for a successful mentor-mentee relationship. Having a mentor from the same industry vertical and in your startup’s specific area or focus country/region will help you understand your business’s troubles and give you proper guidance to grow the startup and could be a valuable resource for your growth as an entrepreneur.
Use the filter option in the mentors’ database and select one or more terms available in the list to find the right mentor that caters to your business needs, including:

• Mentor type
• Venture stage
• Language/s
• sector/s
• Location (country, continent, or region)
• Topic/s

* be aware that some of the listed mentors are offering paid mentorship sessions that vary according to the mentor’s background, experience, and availability. You can find the exact amount on the top side of each mentor’s profile. Read the following question for more details on paid mentorship sessions.

While many mentors on the VC4A Mentorship Marketplace offer mentorship free of charge, some choose to get paid. Both free and paid mentors will offer the first call/session with the founder free of charge. This session is meant to get to know each other and clearly assess the business request before moving forward in the mentorship relationship. You can select and agree on your preferred payment method with the selected mentor during or after this call.

Disclaimer:Please read for more:

Currently, VC4A doesn’t charge any payment fees for using the mentorship platform or offering mentorship for entrepreneurs and the platform’s current infrastructure doesn’t support adding a payment method. We will keep you notified once the feature is there.

Therefore, it is the entrepreneurs’ and mentors’ sole responsibility to agree on the most appropriate and safe payment method they prefer to use. The platform is open to any mentors or founders, hence, we can’t advise on which payment method to use.

You can send up to 3 requests to 3 different mentors at a time. If you have different issues that you need support with, you can send the requests to mentors that you think have the expertise to address them.

Entrepreneurship is driving economic growth, particularly the high-growth high-impact ventures working to develop important innovations, products, and services. They introduce disruptive new business models that are needed to transform and modernize traditional industries. To ensure that innovative high-growth ventures realize their potential to yield high social and environmental impacts, VC4A believes it is imperative that founders have access to quality mentorship.

Through mentoring, business professionals offer more than just access to business opportunities and capital. They create value for startups by sharing the knowledge, experience, and network they’ve gained over the course of a career and actively supporting founders to maximize the return on investment. This is what we call ‘mentor-driven capital’.

In order to become a mentor through VC4A, please follow these steps:

1 Register as a mentor
• Create a profile and join our mentor pool via this link
• Offer mentorship for free or at a fee
• All mentor profiles will be screened by VC4A before publication

2 Be listed as a mentor
• Entrepreneurs can browse mentors
• All requests to mentors will be screened by VC4A first
• Join an onboarding call by VC4A

3 Start mentoring
• Assess each incoming request and decide
• Determine the scope of the conversation
• Set your ground rules and communication style
• Tick off the milestones of the mentorship engagement
• Rate the mentee when the mentorship is done, the mentee will also rate you

Once you submit your mentor profile for approval, your mentor profile will be reviewed for compliance with guidelines and when approved receive onboarding. Usually, it takes 3-5 working days to get approval or the admin will ask you to update any details.

Upon approval, you will be able to receive and access mentorship requests, and decide on a case-by-case basis if you want to support the entrepreneur that is sending the request.

As a mentor through the VC4A platform, you can:

• Offer guidance for up-and-coming business founders.
• Build your personal brand in the local and regional ecosystem by finding a quick and effective way to get active.
• Engage with exciting founders and learn about new markets and business models to help you grow further as an industry and business expert.
• Maintain control. Ability to decide who, when, and how.
• Set rates and get paid for the support given to growth stage and mature stage companies. Mentorship to idea and startup stage founders is offered for free.
• Be considered for further (program) engagements with the VC4A and associated partners.
• Get exclusive access to some of the region’s entrepreneurship events and demo days.

Once you have an approved mentor profile, you will join the VC4A global community of mentors, where you can offer your support to founders ranging from ideas/concepts to mature businesses. You will have the ability to select and accept requests based on your preferences based on their business profiles linked to the mentorship request.

See startups stages explained below:

Idea/Concept stage: This is the ideation stage, where the founder(s) do(es) research around the ‘Problem/Solution Fit’ and work towards the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test the response in the market. Mentorship will most likely focus on how to turn an idea from a concept on paper into a reality.

Startup stage: Having launched the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) this is the stage to test the Product/Market Fit and re-iterate based on the response from the market. Mentorship will most likely focus on team composition, feedback from the market, adjusting the business model, and so on.

Growth stage: Having found Product/Market fit it’s now time to scale up the operations and the team to implement. Mentorship will most likely focus on the growth pains every company is going through when it comes to expanding the business.

Mature stage: Maturity means growth rates are slowing down, but with internationalization comes building localized teams to adapt the product to each new region’s intricacies and cultural nuances. Exit opportunities can also be part of the mentorship discussions during this stage.

The newly designed mentors database will allow registered founders to filter mentors using custom filters including; Mentor experience, Relevant areas of expertise, Topics, Location, and Language.

After which they will need a detailed mentorship request that should include; introduction, problem, and exact request allowing mentors to have an initial understanding.

All mentorship requests are screened and filtered by a VC4A admin to ensure quality and compliance before moving forward to the mentor selected.

Once entrepreneurs and mentors agree to work together, the system will generate an automated checklist for both parties to agree on deliverables, the time needed, and payment.

Once you have a registered/approved mentor account, you can access mentorship requests sent by founders by logging in to your mentor account where requests will be on the right side of your profile.

See the below screen.

2. Accept or Reject requests as shown below:

If you have any troubles accessing mentorship requests please contact the VC4A support team here:

Once entrepreneurs and mentors agree to work together, the system will generate an automated checklist for both parties to agree on deliverables, the time needed, and payment.
The checklist will include the following points:

Mentor request approved
The mentor has approved the application for mentorship.

Schedule first meeting
The connection has been established, great! Now it’s time to schedule the first conversation and align on the mentorship topics and timeline.

First meeting happened: Mentor topic has been refined
Yes, we’ve met and the mentoring topic has been defined and agreed upon

Mentor period has been agreed upon
It is also recommended to agree on an initial mentor period to make sure expectations are aligned

Halfway through the agreed mentor period
Everything is going well. Mid-term check-in! Is the mentorship going according to plan, tick the box if the answer is yes!

Finalize mentorship period
You’re getting towards the end of the mentorship period. When you both feel this was it for now, please close the mentorship here and rate each other so VC4A get a sense of what it was like!

Feedback
As VC4A would like to know what your experience was like we would very much appreciate your feedback, both as rating as well as a comment. Many thanks!

The newly designed marketplace allows mentors to set a specific availability, weekly hours, rates, and free sessions (if applicable). Further platform updates will allow calendar integrations.

Many professionals offer free mentorship to all startups or selected founders from early or seed stages to give back to the community or develop their mentorship skills, while others have the freedom to decide the reasonable fees that make their time and efforts worthwhile.
However, it is essential to set appropriate monthly fees that general founders and entrepreneurs can afford and commit to. Therefore, and to open the opportunity of mentorship to a broader network of entrepreneurs, VC4A has set a maximum of $500 per month* for experienced professionals willing to offer paid mentorship services and consultation through the mentorship marketplace.
A fee cap aims to ensure that mentors get compensated for their time and efforts, and those founders feel comfortable paying you for that service.

*mentors can lower their monthly fees to attract more founders seeking their experiences and support.

Currently, VC4A doesn’t charge any payment fees for using the mentorship platform or offering mentorship for entrepreneurs. VC4A reserves the right to modify or update this term at any time in the future and all platform users will be notified about any terms changes or modifications over emails.

Currently, our infrastructure doesn’t support adding a payment method to your profile, however, we will keep you notified once the feature is there.
However, we request every mentor to offer the first call/session with the founder free of charge. This session is meant to get to know each other and clearly assess the business request before moving forward in the mentorship relationship. You can share your preferred payment method with founders during or after this call.

Please read for more:
Disclaimer: Whereas VC4A doesn’t charge any payment fees for using the mentorship platform or offering mentorship for entrepreneurs, it is the mentor’s sole responsibility to select the most appropriate payment method he/she prefers to use. The platform is open to any mentors or founders, hence we can’t advise on which payment method to use. However, It makes great business sense to offer founders a wide range of payment options to reduce wait time, eliminate hassle, and quickly start the relationship.

As it is the mentor’s sole responsibility to select the most appropriate payment method he/she prefers to use. We highly recommend using a local payment method that is credible and widely accessible in your country, please make sure the entrepreneur is already familiar with or using such payment service. It is also common that some payment methods require a couple of days to process transactions. Once the entrepreneur confirms payments you can either get back to your payment gateway provider using a transaction number or wait for 3-5 days before canceling this relationship.
The entrepreneur will be notified that the relationship was canceled for payment reasons. He/she will have to submit another mentorship request in order to connect with you.

If you have other questions or concerns, please fill in this form for support.

Using the checklist feature shown in the request dashboard, please click Report

A member of the VC4A team will communicate with the startup/founder, allowing him 3 – 5 days to get back to you otherwise you will be notified to cancel the relationship.
We may request to submit further details for documentation and support further actions to avoid such cases in the future from the same member.

The current version of the marketplace supports individual registration only, where multiple experts from the same organization can register their mentorship profiles and submit them for approval before accepting any mentorship requests.
Mentors have the ability to add their current organizations to provide more credibility and increase their brand recognition.
New experts can register their mentorship account here: https://mentors.vc4a.com/

*Mentor organization’s features will be developed in the new versions of the marketplace.

Mentors have the ability to add their current organizations to provide more credibility and increase their brand recognition. However, companies and service providers can join our growing network of partners or contact us to explore ways we can collaborate.
Register as a partner organization here: https://vc4a.com/programs/add/

You can use your mentor profile to showcase your motivation, experience, and why you want to mentor startups on the marketplace. Feel free to include in your introduction; sectors you are interested in, startups phases you want to support or/and commitment you want to offer.

Here’s an example on a mentor introduction:

Hello, my name is Sarah.

I’ve been building a social media company and a payments solution over the past 15 years.
I’m interested in Africa and Latin America as I believe these are the most exciting startup spaces on the continent right now.

I’m looking to support early stage startup founders in their set-up phase, as I believe mentors can add the most value then. I’m also seeking to support early growth ventures seeking to plan and tap into their specific sector with strategies that will guide promoting, engaging marketing campaigns, stakeholder relationships, brand identity, and ensure continued improvement across all business lines.

My interests are fintech, social media platforms and anything related to Web3.

You can use this template as a guide or create your own.

A motivation statement will help mentees understand what drives you to be a mentor and the impact you want to make through mentorship.

Here is a sample below that can help you to craft your motivation statement:

I would like to support founders with the knowledge and skills I have gained over the years to help shorten their learning curve. I want to give back to the startup community by helping innovative founders build strong teams and profitable businesses.

You can use this as a guide to create your own motivation statement.