A social innovation of Mercy Corps, MicroMentor is a free, online platform that connects entrepreneurs with experienced, volunteer mentors. In 2017, Argidius partnered with MicroMentor to expand MicroMentor’s reach with the aim of enabling small and medium sized enterprises to grow and sustain their businesses in Guatemala and Mexico through the formation of mentoring relationships.
MicroMentor assess their impact by carrying out online surveys and projecting the results from these surveys. A challenge experienced by MicroMentor is the level of response rate and the degree to which results are representative. In 2020 an independent evaluation was commissioned with the objective of determining the results of MicroMentor’s approach in emerging economies using representative methods and collecting primary data to assess the results and inform a series of lessons and recommendations to strengthen MicroMentor’s effectiveness. The evaluation surveyed 4,000 randomly sampled entrepreneurs, completing 400 detailed interviews, 494 shorter interviews. 30 in-depth interviews were completed with 15 entrepreneurs and 15 mentors.
Key findings
- Where mentoring relationships did form, these were generally valued by the entrepreneurs, helped them meet their goals, an increased the likelihood of mobilizing finance. The most frequent subjects covered by mentoring was marketing, followed by pitching ideas and networking. Mentors were most asked to respond to specific queries and point mentees to resources and provided entrepreneurs with the motivation to apply for financing. About half of mentees were not using other forms of BDS.
- However, 6% of sampled entrepreneurs were both responsive and had received mentoring: Out of the 4,000 sample, 900 responded, of which 238 received mentoring.
- Mentored entrepreneurs represented a diversity of business stage, with roughly half at the idea or are pre-revenue stage. Few entrepreneurs reported increased revenue resulting from mentorship.
- Challenges included limited entrepreneur engagement with the platform: out of the large numbers that sign up; only a subset contact a mentor; and a subset of these go on to receive mentoring. The reasons for not making a connection with a mentor ranged from not knowing how to reach out; not knowing what support one needed (especially those at the idea stage); not getting a response from contacted mentors; or not finding the specific expertise required.
