The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Pilot mentor development programme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 30, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Pilot mentor development programme

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust, an organisation working for creating employment opportunities for the youth, launched a pilot mentor development programme here on Friday to enhance capacity building among mentors of entrepreneurs.

Mentors are business volunteers who provide business development tools to entrepreneurs.

The demand for such volunteers has multiplied tremendously, said Lakshmi Venkatesan, founding trustee and former vice-president of the trust, said.

The trust had so far helped 1,000 entrepreneurs and helped to create 10,000 jobs. It had also promoted 3,000 mentors and counselled 55,000 entrepreneurs.

The mentor development programme consisted of an online training programme and creation of mentor chapters across the country. The chapters would help mentors interact with peers and share experience and the best practices.

Mentors needed to be given specialised orientation and training to assist entrepreneurs. Mentor development at the trust involved extensive use of information and communication tools and accreditation and the creation of an e-portal, N. Krishnan, chairman, Mentor Development Committee, said.

Volunteerism was the need of the hour, C.N. Paramasivan, founder, Selfless Movement Improving Life Everywhere, said.

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