Role of a Mentor and Selecting the Right Mentor
Event Description
The objective of the webinar is to provide detailed guidance about how important a role of mentor is in Entrepreneurship. Sometimes a start-up doesn’t reach heights just because it lacks a good mentor in its early stage. Hence this webinar provides an overview about mentorship which is a very important part of an entrepreneur’s journey.
Date : 10-05-2020
Time : 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Venue : Zoom Platform
Speaker Name : Mr Bhavesh Kothari
About Speaker : A Graduate in Science, Majoring in Chemistry from Mumbai University. Post Graduate Degree in Event Management. PG Diploma in International Trade from EXIM Institute. MBA specialization in International Business from ICFAI Bhavesh Kothari Has more than 20+ years of rich experience at middle and senior management positions across industry verticals such as Pharmaceutical, FMCG, Corporate Event Management, Business Information, Media and IT & ITES industries. While working with these companies Bhavesh Kothari has been Instrumental in enabling some of these small companies to grow from a start up phase to a market leader in the Industry by developing business models, partner networks as well as revenue generation streams. An In-house trainer providing sales process & management training & mentoring new recruits & existing team. Specialties: Client Engagement & Management, P & L account mgmt, Events Sales, Delegate & Sponsorship Acquisition, Media Partnership tie-ups ensuring revenue flow. Have authored more than 100 articles focused on SME's & Entrepreneurship for various Magazines. He has been empaneled as a trusted mentor / expert on various platforms. He frequently is invited as a Guest Speaker/Panelist/Jury at Startup/SME events across the country with leading institutes like Chetna’s Institute, Parul University, Chitkara University, SRM University, N L Dalmia Institute of Management, Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia), MNNIT Allahabad, L N Mishra College (Patna), SIES College of Management Studies, Fr. Agnels, S.P. Jain Institute, K J Somaiya College of Engineering, Symbiosis Pune, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Sinhgad College of Engineering and many more. He actively mentors Start- ups/Entrepreneurs in areas of their business such as strategy, business management, Sales & marketing, funding, etc. Currently mentoring startups in domains of Healthcare, IoT, Adtech, Gaming, ECommerce, FoodTech, Education, to name a few.
“Role of a Mentor and Selecting the Right Mentor”
(37th Startup Sathi webinar Organised by i-Hub dated – 10 May, 2020)
Speaker: Mr Bhavesh Kothari (Founder of Billlenium Divas Fund)
Moderator: Mr.Hiranmay Mahanta (SSIP-Ihub)
About seminar: The objective of the webinar is to provide detailed guidance about how important a role of mentor is in Entrepreneurship. Sometimes a start-up doesn’t reach heights just because it lacks a good mentor in its early stage. Hence this webinar provides an overview about mentorship which is a very important part of an entrepreneur’s journey.
Topics of discussion:
-An individual requires mentors at each and every stage of life. Simon Sinek’s beautiful golden circle covers 3 important aspects for mentor in entrepreneurship: Why, How and What? It is very important to know the answers of these 3 questions before you choose a mentor.
-If we look into the life of successful people like Ratan Tata, Larry Page or Steve Jobs we will find that all of them had one or more mentors contributing to their success. Mentors can help you guide through critical situations, and can act as a sounding board in decision making.
-A mentor is who has been there and done that, has learned and is willing to share the experience. They help us to reach our full potential.
-Different types of mentor includes: Wise leaders, teachers, Life coach, colleagues, confidante, self-help books/videos, inner mentor, etc.
-Qualities of a good mentor: Mentor should always be a great listener, genuinely interested, reliable, highly responsible, a trusted friend-philosopher and guide, a subject matter expert, a value creator.
-The mentor and a mentee both have their own different responsibilities hence both should follow their responsibilities. You can find or select mentors from your networks, social media like linked-in, subject experts, industrial experts etc. The first step in selecting a mentor is to set expectations-what you want?
- A faculty member/teacher/ academician can also act as wonderful mentors as they have subject expertise and can help you understanding the technical knowledge. They can provide different perspectives of the product including commercial viability of the product.
-How to convince a mentor to get on board? First step is to find whether they are interested or not, if it can benefit them or not. It should be benefit both the parties. If you are looking for a long term relation you can give small equity in the entrepreneurship.
- A mentor can give you rational and neutral approach which a friend or family member cannot, can provide access to opportunities, help steering the business in the right direction, facilitate stronger EQ etc. and hence be crucial in entrepreneurship.
-Talking about Billenium divas fund it is led by Shweta Shalini and aims at honouring and mentoring women in entrepreneurship. They provide capital fund to women in the early stage start-ups.
Quote/ Suggestion: “An Entrepreneur should always be inquisitive”
