A model for mentoring
Since its 2000 founding, the MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) has made quite an impact on campus. Employing a unique and rigorous mentoring model, VMS has aided fledgling entrepreneurs in launching dozens of successful companies. However, for the past decade, VMS has also helped launch more than 50 other mentoring programs worldwide, through the VMS Outreach Training Program. Run by VMS Co-director Jerome Smith, the training program works individually with organizations on how to adopt the VMS model for their own ends — with positive results. Today’s 53 and counting VMS-trained programs can be found far and wide, with varying sizes, missions, and specializations. For example, VMS is now in discussions with a program in Colombia — also home to three other VMS-trained programs —that will focus on helping entrepreneurs in the coffee industry. Several years ago, VMS trained the Chicago Innovation Mentors program, sponsored by local universities and research organizations, which...