Davide Menguzzato

My interest in mentoring stems from my own entrepreneurial journey across multiple ventures spanning climate tech, AI for agriculture, and nonprofit impact work. As the founder of 0plastic — a plastic-to-fuel conversion company — and Head of Business Development at DeepLeaf — an AI platform detecting crop diseases for millions of farmers across Africa and MENA — I’ve navigated the full spectrum of early-stage challenges: fundraising, go-to-market strategy, cross-cultural team building, and scaling operations across emerging markets.
What drives me to mentor is the conviction that the right guidance at the right moment can fundamentally change a startup’s trajectory. I’ve experienced this firsthand, both as someone who benefited from strong mentors and as someone who now regularly advises founders through my role as a scout for Kili Ventures, an Italian VC investing in African startups, and through the Zwina Foundation, where I support women entrepreneurs in Morocco.
My focus areas include:

Market entry and commercialization in emerging markets, particularly across Africa and MENA, where I bring hands-on experience navigating regulatory environments, building local partnerships, and adapting business models to underserved markets.
Impact-driven business models that balance revenue generation with measurable social and environmental outcomes.
Fundraising and grant strategy, from crafting compelling pitches to navigating European subsidies, impact funds, and angel investing networks.
Cross-venture synergies and ecosystem building, helping founders identify unexpected partnerships and leverage networks to unlock growth.

I believe the most valuable mentoring goes beyond advice — it opens doors, connects dots, and challenges founders to think bigger while staying grounded in execution.

Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve been fortunate to receive guidance from people who believed in my potential before I had the track record to prove it. A well-timed introduction, a honest conversation about strategy, or simply someone willing to share their mistakes — these moments shaped the trajectory of my ventures more than any funding round ever did.
Today, I lead and contribute to multiple ventures across climate tech, AI for agriculture, and social impact — working daily with teams and partners in the Netherlands, Africa, and the MENA region. This path taught me that entrepreneurship, especially in underserved markets, can feel isolating. Many founders I meet have extraordinary drive and ideas but lack access to the networks, strategic thinking, and practical know-how that can turn potential into progress.
That gap is exactly why I want to mentor. I want to be for others what my mentors were for me: someone who listens carefully, challenges assumptions constructively, and opens doors that would otherwise remain closed. Giving back is not just a moral choice for me — it is how healthy ecosystems are built. The startups I support today may become the partners, co-investors, or collaborators I work with tomorrow.
I’m especially motivated to mentor founders tackling real-world problems in emerging markets, where a little guidance can have an outsized impact on communities that need it most.