Ola and Jumana, entrepreneurs, found their business mentor through the MicroMentor platform
Ola and Jumana started their business Sanaaty back in February 2019, a venture that employs women and girls from different nationalities to produce handicrafts, accessories and clothing. While their business started off well, the two struggled to professionalize their business and sought help with marketing to new customers.
“Things were messy for us and we were confused about how to do marketing properly,” Jumana said.
In search of support, the two were referred to MicroMentor by a friend who had found a mentor on the platform. Ola and Jumana created a free profile. “We were thrilled because the platform is really user friendly and easy to use both on computers and mobiles,” Ola explained.
“At first, we were skeptical of the support we could receive through an online platform, but were encouraged by the selection of experienced mentors who were available to help,” Jumana added.
After sending a few messages, the two connected with Ayman, a 48-year-old Jordanian marketing expert and business consultant with a degree in Business Management and over 20 years of rich experience in communications, marketing, branding and market research.
Ayman signed up with MicroMentor to give back and share some of the skills he has in order to help others dig deep and achieve more in their businesses. Ayman is looking forward to expanding his expertise by guiding and educating budding entrepreneurs. While his involvement with MicroMentor does not benefit him financially, the platform does allow Ayman to build a positive image in his industry - something that he thinks will reflect positively on his work over the long run.
He is already planning to talk about his mentoring experience in his upcoming business meetings and formal events. He believes that everyone has good ideas that have the potential to benefit a whole community; however, the only obstacle is to find the right tools and resources to reach the right people.
“I have had my ups and downs in my career path, however, I believe I chose the right track as my experience has become a benefit for others,” Ayman said.
Ayman connected with Ola and Jumana to give them a clear guideline on how to organize their workflow, conduct market research and establish a framework for a successful marketing plan.
The group decided it would be best to stay in contact via WhatsApp and connect once a week for an official mentoring session. As a result of their work together, Sanaaty has grown its base of suppliers and recently launched their website: https://sanaaty.com/
“Ayman has provided us so much valuable knowledge, in particular, he helped us in organizing things and that’s what was important as a first step,” Ola said.
MicroMentor is the world’s largest community that connects entrepreneurs and small business owners with volunteer business mentors in a free online platform.
During the COVID-19 crisis, MicroMentor launched a task force for its mentors. The task force provided training to mentors in order to enhance their skills, created webinars explaining how the pandemic is changing the business world and conducted surveys to see how mentors can better engage with entrepreneurs in the context of the pandemic.
In addition to that, the platform created badges for its entrepreneurs to both identify, as well as to better understand, which businesses were most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. MicroMentor then provided those businesses with training sessions, webinars, and also engaged them in online surveys to understand emerging challenges.
MircoMentor has a total of 2,423 users in Jordan (570 mentors and 1,853 entrepreneurs) and a total of 4,050 users in the MENA region (1,013 mentors and 3,037 entrepreneurs).
The MicroMentor platform is funded by MasterCard, EBRD and Google.org.