A study of perceived benefits of mentoring among nascent entrepreneur women: the case of ‘MET’ mentoring community in Spain

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent novice/nascent entrepreneur women perceive that their participation in a mentoring programme contributes positively to their personal/professional development in terms of benefits derived. A quantitative methodology was used to gather information on perceptions/opinions of participants in a ‘MET’ mentoring community programme placed during academic years 2014-2015 to 2016-2017. The acronym corresponds to the concepts of Women (Mujer in Spanish), Entrepreneurship and Technology. Results show that due to the programme, women perceive themselves competent in relation to the competence analysed; show a high level of job satisfaction and degree of progress; identify new business opportunities, expand their vision, improve their business performance, achieve their goals, and transform their business project.

Keywords

• mentoring
• professional learning and development
• women
• entrepreneurs