MicroMentor, a mentoring + training platform supporting enterprise development, is an early-stage venture in Mercy Corps' Social Innovations unit. MicroMentor contributes to positive social change in marginalized communities by providing mentoring and training to entrepreneurs growing competitive businesses that create jobs + stabilize local economies.
The MicroMentor platform—an integrated system of technology, training, materials, and processes (such as customer service + support and monitoring + evaluation)—is designed to deliver high-quality business mentoring cost-effectively and at scale. With MicroMentor:
- Individual entrepreneurs can solve business challenges through mentoring + advising relationships with experienced peers and business professionals.
- Enterprise development organizations can build local mentoring networks and increase the quality, scope, and scale of the mentoring + advising services they provide to their clients.
MicroMentor has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Entrepreneur Magazine, currently supports a community of over 5,000 entrepreneurs + 3,000 mentors, and has facilitated over 2,600 mentoring relationships. The impressive impact of personalized business mentoring and advising is evident in our recent business outcomes study, with participating entrepreneurs reporting a median increase in annual business revenues of 75 percent, business survival rates of 87 percent, and a 68 percent increase in the number of jobs provided by their enterprises. Having recently launched in Nicaragua, and with launches in Haiti and West Bank/Gaza planned for later this year, individuals and organizations who have the opportunity to work with MicroMentor will do so during an exciting period of development and growth, and will directly contribute to MicroMentor's evolution + ultimate success.
