Ignite is delighted that our first cohort of entrepreneurs commenced our programme on May 5. We completed an incredible boot camp with an equally amazing and dynamic group. The quality, energy and aspirations of the group are truly humbling and provide us with more inspiration to support these organisations to get to their next level.

We have now moved to our programme phase where we deal with our clients on an individual basis and build on the foundation established by the boot camp and our curriculum.

Supplementing our core programme, a key component of our mission is to provide trusted and confidential mentoring and advice uniquely tailored to assist the specific needs of each our entrepreneurs.

In Bermuda we have a diverse group of talented professionals and entrepreneurs with an abundance of skill sets, experience and willingness to provide support and guidance to Ignite’s entrepreneurs. This is now a call to the community to apply to be an Ignite mentor or adviser in order to share your wisdom and experience with our clients.

Who and what are we looking for?

In addition to having a desire to help, we need mentors and advisers with the following skill sets and attributes:

• Expertise in a particular function such as marketing, finance, logistics and fundraising or;

• Broad experience in business and be able to assist with general strategy, managing growth, operational effectiveness, service excellence and solving a particular problem or;

• An entrepreneurial background with an understanding of the challenges and opportunities in building businesses and;

• A high degree of confidentiality and integrity.

In order for us to be able to manage the process, we ask that you apply to www.ignitebermuda.com/mentoring and to fill out the mentoring application. The application will ask a number of questions and will enable us to match your skill sets (and time expectations) to the needs of our entrepreneur.

Once we have collated the applications, we will organise a meeting to answer questions and to go into more detail about the mentoring process. We also plan to have our first “Meet the Mentor” event with our cohort on June 26.

This is unique opportunity to provide your valuable and hard-earned expertise to a group that really requires your support and are excited and eager to gain access to your experience. We look forward to hearing from you and to working with you to support our entrepreneurs to build their businesses, to create jobs and to bolster our local economy.

Ignite Bermuda is the trade name of Bermuda Accelerator Limited, a company limited by guarantee and incorporated in Bermuda. BAL is not-for-profit entity (Registered Charity Number 1001). Its mission is to build a community of entrepreneurs that make an impact locally and globally. Together with key stakeholders in the community, it will offer a formalised business curriculum for entrepreneurs to improve their skill sets and a network of mentors and investors to provide enablement and access to capital.

Ignite has a website at www.ignitebermuda.com