Global Business Mentors Club

The pool of Business Mentors come from two sources:

• International Business Mentors who have been trained and certified by the WBAF Business School,
• Local and regional  Business Mentors who may elect to be trained and certified by the WBAF Business School

Business Mentors are selected based on their experience with the client’s industry sector and stage of development. Each mentor takes WEELT Test and has minimum WEELT 316 Score (Independent User of English). Each EIR participating in the SWIPA tart-up Exchange Programmes is assigned one or more mentors who will play key roles in supporting the entrepreneurs / founders and their teams over the life of the programme and beyond.

Business Mentors bring particular skills to the Mentor/Mentee relationship, including:

Industry Knowledge: WIPA recruits Business Mentors from industry verticals and specific areas of need for an early stage or growing company. These experienced entrepreneurs can help start-up founders understand the nuances of the business and the varied nature of the market, whilst also providing  generic advice about business.

Entrepreneurial mindset: Many of the mentors are successful entrepreneurs, who have built their companies from scratch. They are best able to help EIRs validate their ideas and steer their companies through challenging times. Entrepreneurship is hard and a business mentor who has walked that        path can relate to the various issues that entrepreneurs / founders face and guide them appropriately through the obstacles and challenges that inevitably arise.

Strong Networks: Business Mentors have strong connections in the relevant local, regional and/or global  industries, markets and  entrepreneurial ecosystems. They have the potential to open many doors for  the EIR and their team, leveraging connections to allow for strategic partnerships e.g. with large corporates, introductions to potential customers and suppliers, and much more. These connections are powerful in that they can have much greater leverage than having the entrepreneurs and their teams undertaking cold calling, especially if they are pursuing a B2B business model.

Visionary & Problem Solver: Business Mentors help EIRs to find solutions for the problems faced by the business — whether they relate to technology, market access, building a strong organization culture or access to appropriate finance.

WIPA’s online platform facilitates meetings between Mentors and EIRs. Each Mentor and EIR is assigned a username, password, and mentorship sessions held are scheduled in the Mentors Hall of the platform. There is a clear agenda announced for each session. Every conversation between Mentors and EIRs are recorded, and each party can re-watch them afterwards. WIPA’s Head of Mentorship Department also has access to the recordings.

Head of the Mentorship Department meets with mentors on a routine basis to stay abreast of the EIR’s company development needs and to suggest resources that would help the  mentor best serve the start-up, as well as ensuring that the Mentor is providing good value to the EIRs incubated at the WIPA.

The World Business Angels Investment Forum, as an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), explores how players in the start-up ecosystem can foster innovation and deliver more business value through partnerships between angel investors, start-ups, high-growth businesses, scale-ups and SMEs. In line with this goal, the WIPA’s Global Business Mentors Club has been launched to support start-ups and to accredit qualified entrepreneurs and investors as qualified business mentors. Thanks to its extensive network, WIPA is now able to offer quality mentorship and provide consultancy for expanding into international markets.

The purpose of the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club exists  to provide mentorship for start-ups, high-growth businesses, scale-ups, and SMEs around the globe, including specific market expansion services. It also offers executive coaching and an active information & experience exchange about the formation, development and financial structuring of EIRs

Delivering mentoring to start-ups and scale-ups as an accredited member of the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club is a privilege that is extended on a periodic basis to individual accredited business mentors and is subject to periodic renewal, non-renewal, revocation, termination or suspension by its Board of Directors, which shall be elected from time to time by the members of the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club.

The WIPA Global Business Mentors Club Administration has developed two sets of guidelines:

Guidelines for Business Mentors:
For individuals wishing to become an accredited or certified business mentor who will provide quality mentoring to entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.

Guidelines for Start-ups:
For entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs who want to receive mentoring from accredited or certified business mentors of the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club.

WIPA has outlined strict guidelines for the Business Mentorship Programme. As a condition of membership in the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club (hereinafter referred to as Club), each member must sign a Rules of Membership and Code of Conduct statement, which indicates the member’s agreement with, and acceptance of the Club membership rules and code of conduct.

• Membership inthe Clubis a privilege that is extended on a periodic basis to individual accredited or certified business mentors (“Members”) and is subject to periodic renewal, non-renewal, revocation, termination, or suspension by the Board of Directors of the WIPA. (hereinafter referred to as “the Board”).
• As a condition precedent to renewal or continuation of Membership, it shall be conclusively presumed that a Member has expressly agreed to abide by the Club Rules of Membership and Code of Conduct, as they may be modified from time to time by the Board, and to have expressly acknowledged that Membership may be revoked, terminated, suspended or not renewed by the Board upon the failure of the Member to do so. After any change in the Rules of Membership or the Code of Conduct, each Member must either accept the Rules of Membership and Code of Conduct or withdraw from the Club.
• The purpose of Membership is to provide mentorship for start-ups, high-growth businesses, scale-ups, and SMEs doing business around the globe, including specific market expansion services for applicants, and to provide coaching and an active exchange of information and experience regarding the formation, development, and financial structuring of applicant companies as much as necessary. It is important that the Club mentors not deliver more mentoring sessions than an applicant needs. The mentors must not engage in any direct financial transaction with applicants.
• Decisions regarding approval or denial of membership for any applicant shall be governed by the Board. All decisions are final and as such are not subject to appeal.
• Decisions regarding the revocation, termination, suspension, or non-renewal of Membership by the Board are final and not subject to any appeal. The sole recourse any Member has over any disagreement with a Board decision, motion, or action, regardless of its scope or nature, is to withdraw from Membership in the Club.
• The Board can suspend, revoke, or terminate any Member who, in the sole judgment of the Board:
  • Fails to disclose a material fact or makes a material misrepresentation in an application for Membership, regarding any relationship with a mentoring meeting or other information sharing which:
  • Has or gives the appearance of having a material conflict of interest with the Club.
  • Improperly discloses information presented in confidence to Mentors or makes or allows to be made any material use of confidential information presented to Mentors for the benefit of any persons not Members, or any entity other than the discloser, in a manner that conflicts with any of the interests of other Members, the Club, or the discloser.
  • Improperly solicits mentor roles from the Club or makes a material misrepresentation or omits a material fact in reporting mentorship sessions to the Club.
  • Behaves in a manner that materially disrupts the Club activities or events or, in connection with any the Club-related activities, displays less than professional behavior toward other Members.
  • Engages in conduct that reflects poorly on the Club, or which is deemed by the Board, to be against the best interests of the Club.
  • Solicits or accepts any compensation from any party or parties, for presenting a mentorship opportunity, or for raising capital from WBAF Angel Investment Fund, the Membership of the Club without the prior approval of the Board.

Conflict of Interest Policy for WIPA Global Business Mentors Club -  Members Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure
Applications for mentoring are to be treated as confidential. Documentation provided to the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club must be used only for the purpose of assessing an application. It must not be used for any other purpose or discussed with or disclosed to others. The use of ideas or unique methods obtained from an application or from the mentoring session is strictly prohibited.

While the mentoring applications documents are in the possession of the WIPA Global Business Mentors Club, the documents must be:

• stored in a secure manner so as to prevent unauthorized access.
• transmitted using secure platforms.
• destroyed in a secure manner when no longer needed (e.g. by shredding hard copies and deleting electronic data files).

Enforcement of this Policy
In the event it becomes apparent that any Club mentor who has been assigned to a specific mentee has not declared a conflict of interest or has not declared a conflicting commitment, the administrative board, may do any or all of the following:

• investigate the matter and report it to the WIPA Board, along with documentation of their findings and their recommendations;
• request that the member refrain from participating in the Club until the investigation has been completed and the outcome decided;
• request that the member resign from the Club; and
• take whatever legal or administrative steps are appropriate to remedy the conflict.