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About Us
| History | People
| Partnerships | Contact
Us
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| MicroMentor in Brief |
| MicroMentor connects low-income business owners - called
"microentrepreneurs" - to individuals who have successfully navigated
business ownership or management in the same industry. Although there
are some existing mentoring opportunities available to business owners,
MicroMentor is the only one that utilizes technology to pair two people
in the same industry. |
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| Collaborating with community-based microenterprise
organizations, national trade associations and corporate partners,
MicroMentor helps these microentrepreneurs gain access to markets
and increase revenue and profitability by offering on-line, time-convenient
mentoring. By merging Internet technology with personalized mentoring,
MicroMentor is dedicated to the proposition that low-income microentrepreneurs
are crucial to the economic and social well-being of our communities. |
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| MicroMentor was officially launched in
2001 in collaboration with three microenterprise programs: CAMEO (California
Association for Microenterprise Opportunity), Start Up of East Palo
Alto, CA, and West Company of Mendocino of Ukiah, CA. |
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| MicroMentor's Goals: |
| Demand for mentoring services has been so tremendous
that MicroMentor recently launched a national drive to attract more
business people to serve as volunteer mentors. MicroMentor's goal
is to attract hundreds of new mentors in the coming weeks, in anticipation
of a national rollout of the program. Ultimately, MicroMentor envisions
enrolling thousands of emerging business owners who will be paired
with successful entrepreneurs from communities across the United States. |
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| Over time MicroMentor expects to broaden its services,
particularly those offered on its Web site, to help entrepreneurs
gain access to a wide array of resources and products that could help
strengthen their businesses - including training, financing and marketing.
Still, as MicroMentor expands services and increases the number of
participants, it is anticipated that the peer mentoring relationships
will remain at the heart of the program. |
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