Wamda and GE organize closing day of MEMakers Venture Program
Wamda and GE organize closing day of MEMakers Venture Program
GE mentors and MENA entrepreneurs during the mentorship session
(Images via Kamel El Asmar)
A little over six weeks after launching
the GE MEMakers Mentorship Program, the closing
day of the program arrived all too soon last week on November 25,
at the GE Ecomagination Center in Masdar City, Abu
Dhabi.
The intensive program, organized by Wamda
between General Electric
(GE) management and MENA startups, is part of
a
partnership announced by both companies in
April 2015, and aims to offer professional support and mentorship
for a dozen startups from throughout the MENA region.
During the first day of the program 18 managers
and senior employees from GE were matched with 16 entrepreneurs.
And over six weeks the teams organized mentorship sessions over
Skype or in person.
Those sessions were designed to help the
entrepreneurs solve key challenges and overcome hurdles related to
managing their startups, in addition to getting exposure to
potential partnership deals.
“We had the amazing opportunity to meet
Mamar Gelaye, CEO of Omnyx LLC, a joint venture of GE
Healthcare and UPMC, through our mentor, and we are
discussing potential partnership soon,” said Baher Hakim, cofounder
of Medicus.
The program wasn’t exclusively about mentorship.
It also served as a way to introduce GE employees to the
entrepreneurial mindset and put them in the shoes of today’s
entrepreneurs.
Another group of GE mentors and entrepreneurs discussing solutions
to specific challenges.
This time around GE employees suggested they invite
some colleagues who would benefit from the program. Wamda also
invited 5 more startups to build new mentorship teams.
The day was split into four parts during which each of
the 13 entrepreneurs and 13 mentors took part of the morning
pitching session that focused on main challenges. As entrepreneurs
state their challenges, mentors would give them cards, volunteering
to sit with them later in the day for one-on-one sessions and give
them direct advice.
The second activity of the day had entrepreneurs and
mentors sit together in small groups to discuss specific challenges
such as corporate partnership building, B2B sales, marketing
strategies, R&D and operations.
After lunch, one-on-one sessions were organized and
entrepreneurs had the chance to dive further into their hurdles and
tackle them directly with different mentors.
The day ended with a fireside chat in which all
attendees shared insights about what they learned from the day.
Ending the day with a fireside chat.
GE mentors offered great and direct support to the
startups, and felt personally involved and responsible. Here are
some of the key results reached during the first round of this
program:
-
GE mentors connected entrepreneurs to other GE
departments for potential collaboration. -
GE mentors connected entrepreneurs to experts in
different corporations that work in the same industries, for more
exposure to potential partnerships. -
GE mentors shared their internal practices fore
entrepreneurs to try and adapt to their companies’ cultures. -
GE mentors completely placed themselves in the shoes
of the entrepreneurs to help them solve challenges and reach new
milestones in short periods of time. -
Some GE mentors became customers of the startup they
are supporting, buying their products, testing them directly, and
giving tangible feedback. - Knowing how GE internal policies and strategy
decisions work, GE mentors advised entrepreneurs on products that
GE would be interested in partnering on, and discussed the best
ways to do so, either with GE or any other partner.
Leave a Reply