Make a Difference — Mentor a Team
The GCIP Mentoring Programme is a key component of the Programme. The mission of the mentor programme is to maximize every participant’s chances of being a prize winner, but most important, of raising investment capital and of achieving sustainable commercial success. Being a mentor can be a very rewarding experience. Mentors and teams are matched based on skills, industries, technologies and regions on the mentor/team profiles.
Please note that applicants entered into the current year’s programme are not eligible to become mentors.
Generalist Mentors
The Generalist Mentors are the experienced professionals with proven records of success in leading early stage businesses. Cleantech industry experience is not required, but is helpful. These generalist mentors become key assets for the entrepreneurs that are accepted into the GCIP. In the context of the Programme, Generalist Mentors become an integral part of the team, coaching in association with the eight modules and supporting the entrepreneurs with feedback for final deliverables such as the investor pitches, financial models and summaries. After the Programme concludes in October, many mentors often become trusted advisers for their teams as they scale their businesses.
- Coach teams through deliverables development
- Provide feedback on all aspects of the business
- May attend education and training events along with team (i.e. GCIP Academies or workshops)
- Work with or help identify Specialist Mentors to provide specialist coaching
Required Skills
- Proven experience in high-growth (scalable) early-stage entrepreneurship
- Ability to quickly become a useful, trusted advisory to accelerator companies
- Willingness to participate, help out, debate, engage proactively with teams
Generalist Mentors are committed to at least one hour every week of assistance and mentoring. They are welcome and encouraged to attend the Regional National Academies, Special Topic Webinars and also be present during Mock Judging. Depending on space and regional availability, the mentors may sit in on final judging by experts.
Specialist Mentors
Specialist Mentors are subject matter experts who act as resources for one or more teams in the Programme. Typical Specialist Mentors are management level at companies large and small who are recognized leaders in their discipline.
- Have opportunity to facilitate training and workshop sessions during Regional National Academy
- Work with Generalist Mentors to provide functional coaching to team as needed
- Provide deep expertise in key functional areas which may include but are not limited to:
- Finance (finance modelling, P&L management, financial performance benchmarking)
- Marketing (positioning statement, pricing, value prop. development, marketing, product launch, strategic partnering)
- Engineering (product development, architecture, innovative designs, design for manufacturing)
- Early stage fund-raising
- IP
- HR
- Digital and online presence
- Interaction with university and research institutions (technical validation)
To volunteer as a Mentor:
The main knowledge partner of the GCIP globally is the U.S. based Cleantech Open (CTO) who run the world’s largest cleantech business accelerator. CTO provides the online infrastructure to manage the participant, mentor and judge’s application process for the GCIP-SA.
Prospective participants, mentors and judges need to register in order to access the CTO system.
*Please note, there is NO APPLICATION FEE that applies to the South African Accelerator.
– Select LOGIN to create a new user account or to access your existing Mentor profile
– Download Mentor Registration Procedure.