The first and second phase of the Business Mentorship Programme kicked off in 2016 and 2017 respectively with the overall goal of sustainably improving and supporting companies under the Accelerator and Incubator Programs to grow and expand through provision of business mentorship support.
The previous programme had 29 clients (13 and 16 Accelerator and Incubator clients respectively). Capital Strategies Ltd selected 13 Business mentors who worked closely with the client services department. Their selection criteria were based on their experience in business mentorship, working with and supporting entrepreneurs especially in the KCIC areas of interest, setting up and running business outfits and having specialized business and mentorship training. The programme ended in November 2017.
“By interacting with the mentors at the business premises, the mentor was able to give us insights and practical options to addressing some challenges. This interaction with the mentor at the site of my business made the programme more valuable and focused. I was able to incorporate more members of the team to gain more insights during the discussions with the mentor,” said John Maina, SCODE.
On Monday 26th February, 2018, KCIC will be rolling out the third phase of the up- scaled phase Business Mentorship Programme will be the third of the first pilot programme undertaken by KCIC and Capital Strategies (K) Ltd.
This will target 30 clients in the incubation and acceleration cohort and will run for 10 months. The programme aims to identify operational gaps and developing business gap closing measures and growth plans. The mentors are industry experts in agribusiness, renewable energy, business development and fundraising.
“The programme comprises of both individual, peer to peer learning and group sessions. There will also be technical sessions that will cover important aspects of the business such as marketing, taxation product development, capital raising strategies, business models, branding and public relations among others,” noted Felix Magaju, Client Services Manager.
The programme has been categorized into five stages namely planning and gap analysis, programme launch, execution, closing and the monitoring and evaluation phase. At the end of the programme, lessons learnt will be documented for continuous improvement of the mentorship and case studies of the successful enterprises.
By Mercy Mumo
