Entergy Arkansas is sponsoring the Venture Center’s mentor training program, the entrepreneurial resource provider announced.
The program is a half-day course that guides participants through an introduction to Venture Center’s methodology and mission, according to Lee Watson, the center’s president. He said prospective mentors “walk through the steps in mentoring a startup founder taking a business from idea stage to a scalable, investable venture.”
The course is presented by serial entrepreneur Lou McAlister, the VC’s entrepreneur-in-residence.
“Mentorship can mean the difference between success and failure for the early stage entrepreneur,” he said.
Entergy’s sponsorship will allow the Venture Center to conduct four sessions of the program in the coming year and certify up to 50 new mentors. The dollar amount of the sponsorship was undisclosed.
“Entergy fully supports the Venture Center to further recruit and train new mentors,” said Entergy Arkansas CEO Hugh McDonald in a news release. “The Venture Center’s systematic approach to growing knowledge-based companies and accelerating ideas to real viable business strongly aligns with our innovation and economic development priorities.”
Watson said a successful mentor program “de-risks an entrepreneur’s path and dramatically increases the speed at which a new idea can build traction and enter the market.”
“The Venture Center offers structured mentorship, backed by a proven methodology leveraging seasoned business leaders, investors and serial entrepreneurs,” he said. “Mentorship is not, ‘Let’s have coffee.’ There exists a very real process to move entrepreneurs from ideas to real ventures and we’re excited to be expanding this offering in central Arkansas.”
Mentor training takes place quarterly at the Venture Center, located in space shared with the Little Rock Tech Park at 107 E. Markham St. in Little Rock. More on the program is available here.
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