Abstract:
Studies show that mentors provide strategic inputs, technical knowledge and motivation to entrepreneurs to
take the next big step. While there is documented evidence of such mentorship impacting business growth and
increasing profits for conventional start-ups, its value for micro-entrepreneurs in India has not been
extensively studied. Grassroots micro-entrepreneurs (investment less than 10 lakhs) primarily seek credit and
marketing support with little or no mentoring. We found that such micro-entrepreneurs tend to have an
appetite for impactful solutions that solve near-term needs rather than longer-term sustainable and scalable
business strategies. In this paper, we explore existing perspectives on mentorship, its relevance in local
settings and response from micro-entrepreneurs about personalized guidance. We discuss if and how social
learning can impact local micro-entrepreneurs having no formal business education. We observed that the
conventional approach of one-on-one mentoring does not lead to expected benefits. Instead, our pilot in
Northern Karnataka showed that a tiered mentoring model involving community mentors, sectoral experts
and successful businesspersons in different capacities and different styles of engagements creates a more
effective ecosystem for both personal and business development. This tiered mentorship system provides
diversity and novelty in each session, which is highly valued by micro-entrepreneurs.
Description:
Thirteenth Biennial Conference on Entrepreneurship/ Edited by Sasi Misra, Sunil Shukla, Ganapathi Batthini
