Quick information guide

Mentoring benefits

  • Experience
  • Business success
  • Network Opportunities
  • Business Assurance
  • Business sustainability
  • Stronger Emotional Intelligence
  • Encouragement

 

Criteria to be used to choose your mentor

A mentor to successfully groom others for business success, they must:

  • show willingness to mentor the mentee
  • be well experienced in the business under question.
  • have good history of being honest, respected and good integrity
  • be able to guide, give feedback and occasionally practice with the mentee
  • be able to initiate new business ideas
  • be well networked in business and have strong business partners
  • have succeeded in doing similar business
  • be ready to share experience on business failures and successes
  • be able to spend good amount of time with the mentee
  • have ability to control one self and make reasonable decisions and able to sense emotions of others

Mentorship in Tanzania

Business Mentoring is for those who want to get advice (Mentees) and learn from those who have been in business and have done it well (Mentors). 

In the United Republic of Tanzania (URT), business mentorship is still a new experience. According to Organizations supporting women in business, less than 20% of the URT women know and use mentorship services and of these, the majority want the services free of charge.

According to Tanzania Women Chambers of Commerce (TWCC), 70% of its mentees have gained profit through business improvements. These Organisations are mentoring women in various areas, that include business registration, product processing and packaging, marketing, networking, and industrialization. 

TWCC says that women in business are many in URT, and it can be challenging to mentor them all at the same speed and level. Thus women in business are advised to find themselves matching potential business mentors (Mlezi Biashara) from the same locality who are willing to cooperate. 

Importance of mentoring

Mentoring is needed not only because of the knowledge and skills mentees gain from their mentors, but also because of a number of benefits that include:

  • Experience: if mentees in business are connected to the right mentor, they gain business experience not shared under ordinary circumstances. The mentors share personal experience in business and the best approaches used to solve problems
  • Business success: Mentees have higher chances of excelling in their businesses compared to those without mentoring opportunity
  • Network Opportunities: Mentors have strong business networks and can link up the mentees with new markets, inputs supply and/or technology opportunities
  • Business Assurance: Good mentors remove worries and fears in business; this gives confidence and hope to the mentees 
  • Stay long in business: Mentors help mentees to initiate sustainable businesses and equip them with problem-solving skills; this allows mentees to stay longer in business despite challenges they might face.
  • Stronger Emotional Intelligence: Mentees are taught on how to react in business and make reasonable decisions when dealing with difficult issues. Entrepreneurs with good mentors are more matured when it comes to making decisions and they can control their emotions to avoid risky decisions.
  • Encouragement: Experienced mentors share personal experience on business ups and downs hence this helps the mentees to heap up even at times of crisis.

 

Match Maker Associate Limited (MMA)

supports small holder producer groups such as farmers, animal keepers, and other business holders to increase efficiency and competitiveness through value chain development.

Tanzania Women Chambers of Commerce (TWCC)

TWCC helps to promote the economic growth of women entrepreneurs through its mentoring programme

Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA)

provides mentoring in production techniques, product processing and packaging as well as in market linkages and Import and export

Tanzania Local Entrepreneurship Development (T-LED)

T-LED mentors in business development and marketing

Small Industries Development Organisations (SIDO)

provides mentorship in a number of areas, including business problems solving and business opportunity selection and others
angle-left Cube Zanzibar

Cube Zanzibar

About Cube Hub Zanzibar

Cube Zanzibar is a business enabler Organisation that offers a range of support services to start-ups and small businesses in Zanzibar. Established in 2018, the Organisation has its office in Stone Town Zanzibar and it is working with major Institutions that have already on the entrepreneurship programs, such as Milele Foundation.
Cube Zanzibar provides ideation, incubation and acceleration programs to aspiring entrepreneurs and supports newcomers in entrepreneurs by assisting in financing and business administration challenges, help them in bringing ideas to life and get businesses to excel.
Their aim is to stimulate innovation to the entrepreneurs by providing mentorship and coaching, training on Technology and Tourism, Project Design and Management.

Areas focused on Mentorship

 Business programs:

  •  Business idea formation (Ideation)
  • Testing of business idea (Incubation)
  •  Developing the business (Acceleration)

 Financing:

  •  Assistance in commercial bank loan applications
  • Assistance in finding alternative lender options
  • Short term interest-free loans that function as start-up capital

Business administration support

  • Legal and administrative arrangements
  • Mentorship programs

Enrolment criteria

Cube Zanzibar provides mentorship programs for all ages. Also, they have specific programs like education, technology and tourism for certain group of ages from 15 – 35 years old.

Duration of the Mentorship Programs

Duration:

Mentorship programs duration depend on the project and areas of expertise provided, but it can take 6 months to 1 year for a certain program.

Frequency: the programs provided in weekly basis

 

Contacts

Department of Legal Aid
Kiponda, Stone Town,
Zanzibar
Tel: +255 778 183737
Tel: +255 777 932318
Email: info@cubezanzibar.com
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