BITE Toolbox

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them, two are fundamental: 1) a form, to be filled at the beginning of the process, containing
the entrepreneur’s profile, an assessment of the business idea and the related
credit risk; 2) an Entrepreneur dossier, to be produced at the end of each mentoring
process, tracing all the actions and decisions implemented during the mentoring phase.
3.4 Collaboration with other project partners
• Be consistent across regions while being context-sensitive. Ensuring coherence in delivering
mentoring services to different cohorts of participants can be challenging, especially
if the project and programme is implemented in different areas or countries. At the
same time, migrant entrepreneurship is embedded in a wider socio-cultural-economic
context that varies considerable from area to area. Ideally, mentoring should be implemented
by partners that have extensive experience on migrant entrepreneurship at local
level, as they can quickly leverage their network. Convening a meeting between partners,
including local ones, before the beginning of the project can help identify context-specific
needs and criticalities, discuss possible solutions and ensure proper methodological
coherence. Involving relevant stakeholders in a consultative fashion can also be helpful
and give the project/programme more legitimacy.
3.5 Collaboration with key external stakeholders
• The value of a mentor lies in his/her work experience, personal credibility and professional
network. The higher the quality of these three assets, the rarer the people who
own them. Sometimes mentors are identified within one or multiple partners, sometimes
they are recruited as external stakeholders. When having to resort to external expertise,
partners should be part of or access relevant networks of professionals. External
stakeholders include:
o Specialised companies and individual professionals. These actors can make relevant
thematic support directly available to participants. To facilitate outreach and networking,
you should prepare a list of qualified and experienced professionals and
companies to regularly use in your activities.
o Public stakeholders. National and local public stakeholders are often responsible for
making available funding for start-ups available. As such, they could play a key role in
communicating and disseminating opportunities among participants. Municipalities,
especially if medium-big size, may equally activate their existing networks to enhance
synergies with your project/programme, avoid duplications and reinforcing the
Building Integration Through
Entrepreneurship