Mentoring

Mentors are industry, business and export specialists who provide their time to share their knowledge and expertise with less experienced mentees. Mentoring has become an essential factor in entrepreneurial success part and provides meaningful connections that impact the people involved and influences their lives at home, at work and in their communities – whether you are a mentee or a mentor, there are benefits for both. For those who are being mentored, it is linked to improving academic, social and economic prospects. For those who provide mentoring, the relationship can build leadership and management skills, expand a mentor’s professional network and provide an empowering opportunity to give back to the community.

Participating in a mentoring program will be an opportunity for you to further explore yourself, your goals and your life.

The main strategy within the launch of our mentoring program which is very important, is to ask the targeted startups of their intention to be mentored through a specific survey, in order to create a tailored training program that will cover a high level of their training expectations.

Based on our network, we choose carefully the mentors as we want them to truly maximize the potential of the teams (mentees). Therefore, we match the team’s needs to one of the mentors in our network and share his profile between both parties, in order for them to evaluate if their requirements meet.

Patras Science Park mentorship program is flexible in terms of duration and is tailored according to the needs of the interested teams/startups, during which the team and Mentor meet face-to-face or virtually for as much the team and mentor needs to work towards setting and realizing personalized, measurable and attainable goals. At that point, Mentees are those who will mainly drive the relationship with Mentor. 

Specifically, our experienced Mentors will share their skillset, knowledge and expertise by providing meaningful connections that create impact to the community and influence the teams for their subsequent professional development. We guarantee that in conjunction with a mentor, the team at any other stage will be prepared for making a strong application.

Personal insights/advice: Mentors offer insights and advice from their personal experience, which is very helpful as it accelerates the learning curve through sharing best practices.

Feedback:  Feedback is offered regularly, both orally and formally (written) in the level needed, by reviewing the ideas regarding business/marketing plans, business models etc.

Network: Mentors provide mentees with useful connections and introductions that can assist with their business (e.g. investors, customers and industries in a specific field, etc.)  

Guidance: Mentors offer advice and information to help mentees with their startup, by navigating mentees to their experienced space and by offering advice and strategies that are generally applicable for improving a business that would be obvious to an experienced entrepreneur

Social-emotional support: Mentors offer social-emotional support and inspire the mentees to focus on their visioned path.

A critical service of PSP is a mentoring support program, targeting early stage startups, which are matched with highly experienced mentors coming from business and industry, to provide such companies with guidance in order to develop professional skills development, leadership and management amongst others.

It is a very powerful tool that can help reach your professional potential because of the high-level leadership and empowerment it provides.

A mentor will help a mentee believe in his/her capabilities as a person, something that has been already developed by the PSP pull of mentors whose empathy has led to effective results with most of the assigned mentees. Because of this, the self-confidence of the mentee will be improved and they will be more apt to accept more challenges in the future. As a mentor to our program, you would also enable the mentee to explore new ideas so that you can achieve a higher level of self-assurance in yourself and explore even greater success.

Within the Patras Science Park program, the expectations from your role as mentor, are mainly to spend quality time with your mentee.

Specifically, the benefits for both mentors and mentees:

• The teams/startups to grow and develop the future workforce
• Participate in business functions and events
• Improve your leadership and management skills
• Network expansion
• Development of communication skills
• Boost your job satisfaction

You may choose to do more than this, but we recommend that you set the expectations clearly at the inception.

We are glad that you are interested in joining our mentorship program and donating your time as a mentor. Upon your registration as mentor via this platform, you will be matched with an applicant, most likely in the same scientific field. Your most important task as a mentor will be to provide applicants with encouragement, application feedback and advice throughout the project process and/or after the project’s end.

Requirements

Before applying as a mentor to the Patras Science Park you must demonstrate:

• Expertise in business and industry – If you are an expert from the industry area, then you make the perfect match within the specifications of the Patras Science Park mentorship
• Professional experience in different disciplines, offering tailor-made solutions to improve every innovative endeavor.
• Ability to act as a role model, adviser and consultant

Become a mentor

To join Patras Science Patras as a mentor, fill out the form below.

It is therefore important for us to learn as much as possible about yourself upon your registration and your expectations from the mentorship.

Please kindly consider that there may be a delay during the matchmaking process. For further information please don’t hesitate to contact us.