 |
 |
|
|
|
|
MicroMentor
MicroMentor, an initiative of Mercy Corps, was one of five organizations selected to be part of the new Learning Group on Scale. The Learning Group will assist participating organizations in advancing their progress toward scale by learning from the experiences of current Scale Academy members, pursuing a customized agenda that addresses their specific issues and challenges, and participating in collective initiatives designed to advance the field's pursuit of scale.
The Learning Group first met in September 2009 and will continue through 2010.
Scale-up Strategy:
MicroMentor's unique on-line model is well suited for an increase in scale. Scale-up strategies are focused in three areas; product and service development, marketing and distribution, and revenue generation and sustainability.
MicroMentor plans to continue to improve MicroMentor 2.0, a new web application designed to facilitate the mentoring process that was released in March 2009. MicroMentor also plans on launching a consistent and multi-faceted campaign to raise the profile of the MicroMentor website and sign up new users. The campaign includes web-marketing on search engine optimization, viral marketing, and media and public relations. Additionally, MicroMentor is developing a sustainable model of service provision based on income from individual contributions and subscriptions, entrepreneur affiliate services, employee volunteering services, and advertising and sponsorship. |
|
Background:
MicroMentor is a free on-line service that connects business owners with business mentors. Their mission is to help small businesses grow faster, generate more revenue and employ more people.
In 2002, the Aspen Institute began piloting MicroMentor to show that one-on-one mentoring and advising relationships were critical to microenterprise's ability to grow beyond the start-up phase. The successful program was then transferred to Mercy Corps in 2006, which allowed MicroMentor to leverage Mercy Corps' expertise in scale and social innovations.
Core Microenterprise Services: |
- MicroMentor offers free on-line service that connects new business owners with more established business owners
- MicroMentor offers established entrepreneurs the opportunity to give back to the community by mentoring new entrepreneurs and offering one-on-one advice to help build a successful business
Highlights: |
- Entrepreneurs that participate in the MicroMentor program show:
- An increase of $15,400in median annual business sales
- An increase of $20,000in median annual household income
- An 87 percent business survival rate for existing businesses and 52 percent start up rate for new businesses
- MicroMentor has enrolled more than 1,800 entrepreneurs and almost 1,400 mentors, and facilitated more than 1,300 mentoring relationships.
- Because of their unique online presence, MicroMentor has been able to reach out to entrepreneurs in 49 of the 50 United States.
|
Current Scale:
FY2007:45 clients served
FY2008: 409 clients served
|
Scale Projections:
FY2009: 2000 individuals enrolled and facilitate almost 700 mentoring relationships
FY2010: 5000 individuals enrolled and facilitate almost 1500 mentoring relationships |
Learning Questions:
How can we effectively serve minority and immigrant markets (with an initial focus on developing a specialized offering for Latino entrepreneurs)?
What are the best (low-cost) marketing strategies for us to reach and engage large numbers of entrepreneurs and mentors (10,000+ annually)?
How can we efficiently generate revenue from individual, organizational and corporate participants, and how can we convert current non-paying customers? |
