| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Mentor Capital Network is pleased to announce that we are now recruiting entrepreneurs and mentors for our 2017-2018 Sustainable Business Plan Collaboration Program. The program will run from October 2017 to March 2018. If you know a new or growing for-profit social enterprise that could benefit from our program, or you are interested in supporting those companies as a mentor, please let me know. Entrepreneurs who participate in our program will receive detailed feedback on their business plans, connections to mentors and investors, and a chance at cash and in-kind prizes. We are looking for companies that are:For-profit start-up or growing companies that have a social, environmental, and/or cultural mission that strengthens your company’s financial margin.Open to receiving feedback from reviewers, including industry and regional experts, investors, lawyers, and accountants from around the globe.Interested in building a relationship with a mentor, and not just having a one-time conversation.Able to submit your documents in English, Spanish, or French. Our team’s primary language is English, so if you are working in Spanish or French, please have at least one English-speaker we can communicate with.Mentors get exposure to up and coming social enterprises, and they also get to see what other industry experts have to say about the companies that they review. Our website covers how the program works for Entreprenuers, Mentors, and Investors. But the best way to know what we’re doing is to hear from the people we’ve worked with before: “The [MCN] matched qualified judges with the appropriate business plan, and provided constructive feedback. Their competition sets a good example for other social business plan competitions to follow.” – Michael Callahan is CEO of PowerMundo which operates in rural Peru, managing a worldwide distribution network for clean technology products and supports new local economic development in emerging markets. Nuru Energy sells a portable, rechargeable LED task light that mimics the characteristics of kerosene, in terms of its functionality and the way it’s consumed through microfranchise businesses. Sameer Hajee, founder and CEO, recalls “We’ve won now about 20 awards. Many of them came after the [MCN] award. The MCN was one of the first awards we won that helped us initially prove our concept. But of all those 20 awards, the MCN was the only one where we actually had access to a lot of the feedback from the judges and it was fantastic in helping us to adapt the model. We just put together our business plan for this next fundraising round and I went back to all the judges’ comments to see whether or not we had addressed some of the issues that were raised there. That’s been really helpful for us, even two, three years after we won the award.” DayOne Response develops & supplies solutions for disaster relief, including the DayOne Waterbag, which is a lightweight reusable personal water treatment device. Tricia Compas-Markman, founder and CEO, says “For social enterprises that are in that early stage prior taking on investment, I really think that all [of those] companies should be involved with the MCN competition because it provides immediate feedback on your plan, even if you only get through the first round. The feedback helped build our team focus. It should be in the entrepreneur handbook – you’ve got to do [MCN].” Wello empowers individuals to use the WaterWheel as an income-generating tool to lift their families out of poverty. Cynthia Koenig, founder, recalls “The feedback I received from MCN was far and away the most comprehensive, detailed and useful feedback I’ve received. In fact, over 2 years later, I still refer back to my feedback forms! I’m still in touch with a few of my judges, who continue to provide advice, feedback, and support.” Thank you all for the work that you do. |