Meeting with the mentors of the Business Class programme in Voronezh

On the 14^th of June the meeting with experienced entrepreneurs, potential and acting mentors of the Business Class programme was held in Voronezh. The programme being implemented in 46 Russian regions by Google Russia and Sberbank has been also started in Voronezh.

During three hours, 70 entrepreneurs discussed actively, both in the form of official meeting and networking coffee break, how they can support their budding entrepreneurs. Despite Business Class has been launched in May in Voronezh, several mentors working under YBR and Scaleup programmes had been supporting the Business Class members from other regions for over a year. Altogether over 100 entrepreneurs expressed interest in mentoring and they will stay in touch with the programme team.

The event was arranged by the Business Class programme, supported by Mentoring Institute (established by YBR some time ago), consultant partner of the Business Class.

The meeting was moderated by Irina Gorelova, Project Manager of Mentoring Institute and Boris Tkachenko, CEO, Mentoring Institute and YBR.

The Business Class programme was represented by Madina Tyuryaeva, Mentor Relations Manager. Madina has delivered a presentation on the programme content including the mentoring segment.

The Business Class mentors shared their experience in other regions: Olga Ofitserova (Scaleup mentor), Tamara Naydenova (YBR mentor), Evgeny Tyrnov (former mentee on YBR programme).

Madina Tyuryaeva handed the prizes for active involvement in the programme to the mentors who spoke at the meeting. Based on the discussed experience, Boris and Irina carried out an activity with the audience split into groups dedicated to the key challenges facing the mentors working with mentees. 6 groups delivered their results that were keenly discussed by all the participants and commented by Boris and Irina with the benefit of their 10-year experience in mentoring projects.

After having learnt more about mentoring at this meeting, many entrepreneur participants decided to join the programme as mentors. The potential mentors will fill out online questionnaires at the programme website and will be interviewed by Madina Tyuryaeva. They will then complete online training, take a test and meet their mentees.

We are happy with the new entrants and wish them every success!