Entrepreneurial mentoring: a qualitative analysis of expectations and results

Abstract

Mentoring has been of interest to the most diverse segments and areas that seek the development of people and careers. It is characterized by the relationship between a mentor (a more experienced person, who stimulates, guides, and even serves as a model) and a mentor (a less experienced person). Mentoring for entrepreneurs consists of offering assistance to the mentee, in an increasingly competitive and changing environment. This article aims to verify the expectations and results of the entrepreneurial mentoring process in the view of mentors and mentess. To achieve the objective, interviews were conducted with nine pairs of mentors-mentors with business activities in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo. The collected data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The main results highlight the acceleration of the development of companies due to improvements involving behavioral and technical aspects of mentors, that is, entrepreneurs.