“I need help with my business idea!”

“Are entrepreneurs born or made?” is a question that has been asked across the ages and around the world. Since the dawn of civilization and commerce, the entrepreneurial spirit has propelled individuals, businesses, and economies to new frontiers. While political, social, or economic conditions change, and technology evolves at an accelerating pace, the entrepreneurial spirit consistently identifies opportunities and leverages them to create value. To channel and refine this spirit into robust business ecosystems and economic outcomes, we must recognise the importance of direction and guidance for those on an entrepreneurial journey.

The Bettany Centre Mentoring Programme is designed to enable and support the Start-up journeys of students, alumni, and staff (mentees) of Cranfield University. The rising interest in entrepreneurship is reflected in the growing numbers of requests for these mentoring sessions. The mentoring is provided free for all mentees to guide and support them on their entrepreneurial journey, from the “just thinking about a business idea” stage, to exploring the possibility of transforming the idea into a workable business plan, and eventually to preparing the business idea for investment.

During a typical session, the mentor sets targeted outcomes and discusses relevant topics, such as an outline of the business idea; the refining of the business idea; the pitch presentation; the possibilities; and the potential avenues of investment. The discussion topics may vary depending on the idea, guiding the mentees to form and develop their business plans closer to investment readiness in focussed discussions which enable them to establish a viable business.

In the initial sessions, mentees will meet our internal mentor. Depending on idea-specific requirements, the mentees may meet external mentors with expertise in various industry areas in subsequent sessions. External mentorship sessions may not be required or suitable for all cases. The sessions with our external mentors are offered by the internal mentor, specifically depending on the requirements of each business idea.

While you can book one session at a time, some ideas may need more; in which case mentees can book a follow-up session. Booking an initial Start-up mentoring session requires no formal documents, but it always helps if mentees share an outline or some details of their business idea beforehand.

If you think this is for you (or if you would like to understand if this is for you) book a session via the link here.

Please feel free to drop a line with any queries to bettanycentre-mentoring@cranfield.ac.uk