Abstract:

Entrepreneurs in the course of pursuing their ventures find themselves in situations where they have to make decisions on all aspects of the business. Without a guide in the form of a mentor, one may wind up making crucial early mistakes that would have otherwise been avoidable. Using unstructured interview guide and reflective diaries, ‘personal stories’ of 7 entrepreneurs were analyzed qualitatively and findings documented. Findings from this study which was exploratory revealed among others, that there was an overestimation of people’s capacities in finance, management and leadership. Second, people hurry into elaborate ventures without adequate knowledge of the target market and researching other market data. Thirdly, there appeared to be the lack of anticipation of issues and complications associated with starting a business and having the right measures in place to deal with them. The study also identified miscalculations of timing of new ventures and the lack of understanding of the macro and micro economic environment within which they operate. This paper argues that the place of mentoring in the making of entrepreneurs and their development is fundamental to help avoid pitfalls and asserts that collaboration between entrepreneurial education institutions and industry is crucial to ensure a systematic development and exposure of entrepreneurs. The paper concludes that without providing entrepreneurs with mentoring relationships that inspire and empower them to achieve their personal and business potential as well as placing a mentoring culture at the heart of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, the impact entrepreneurs need to have in the economy may be far-fetched.

Keywords:

Mentoring, Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, industry.