Why mentorship is key for entrepreneurs

For many entrepreneurs, lack of capital has always been a major challenge to the growth of a business and even an obstacle to starting one.

These facts have been documented in several reports and studies, which prioritise lack of funding as the top challenge for businesses.

Yet, for Dr Joseph Sevilla, director of iLab Africa, an innovation and research centre domiciled at Strathmore University, mentorship is major as well, and something that is missing among businesses.

While money is important, he says, one can still make all the wrong decisions if they do not have someone to walk the journey with.

He says mentoring is part of the training that takes place at iLab.

“There are times young people think they have discovered the next breakthrough of humanity. It helps that somebody brings them down to reality,” he says.

He adds that mentorship helps entrepreneurs understand several aspects of running a business, such as budgeting and verifying if indeed the idea they have has a ready market.

Sevilla notes that mentorship is key, considering that the journey of an entrepreneur is at times redirected by failure.

“You may have an idea, but it could fail. I have known many who tried and tried again and eventually succeeded. If you are going to fail, fail fast and move into something else,” he says.

The iLab director was speaking during the launch of Cohort 9 of the Standard Chartered Women in Tech accelerator programme. The Sh22.7 million programme, which runs under the Standard Chartered Foundation in partnership with iLab Africa and Village Capital, targets women-led enterprises, who apply to be part of it and a select few are later financed with Sh1.3 million seed funding to boost their businesses.

These entrepreneurs are coached and trained at iLab Africa by mentors and business leaders attached to both Standard Chartered and Strathmore University.

More funding

Sevilla said what is fostered at the training is a community of women entrepreneurs. “We are not successful on our own. We are successful by working with the community and solving the problems that exist,” he said

He said the platform offered by the university and the bank is the first step to having more companies get more funding.

“It is not enough to have good ideas. Many people have good ideas. Some, apart from having good ideas, have access to capital. But then, if they are not clever enough or have not been trained to make good use of the capital, it could end up with people getting the money and buying a car. I meet such kind of people at times,” he said.

Joyce Kibe, Standard Chartered head of corporate affairs, branding and marketing for Kenya and Africa, said the programme is part of the bank’s strategy of uplifting the disadvantaged in the community, among them women, youth and persons with disabilities.

“The bank has been able to do this through the Standard Chartered Foundation. We give skills around employability and entrepreneurship,” she said.

Regina Mukiri, Standard Chartered’s head of community impact for Kenya and Africa, noted that the women in tech programme recognises the bank’s realisation of the gap in digital access among women and the role technology can play in equalising the playing field.

She pointed out that the programme has successfully graduated 92 entrepreneurs, with 42 receiving the Sh1.3 million seed funding for their enterprises. She noted that businesses that have gone through the programme have realised improved numbers in profit and revenue growth, as well as additional funding. This is in addition to 600 jobs created over the period.

“A lot of alumni have attracted good funding. We have people who have received over Sh130 million ($1 million) to grow their businesses,” she said.

Mukiri said when the programme started in 2017, they used to take in more of the incubation stage businesses. However, as technology access improved, they are now taking those at acceleration level.

She said during the infancy stage of the programme, they realised the need for coaching and mentorship even after the seed money had been awarded.

It is the reason why the programme brings together those who won the seed fund and those who did not for cross-mentorship. This happens at a continental level, considering the bank runs 11 cohorts across Africa.

“We started with a coaching extension of six months where we do milestones that help them monitor how the seed money is being used,” she said. “But now, even for the others who did not get the seed money, we have brought them together and hold regular masterclasses.”