FundoLinker Ups Efforts To Connect Entrepreneurs With Mentors
Student-focused startup maximizes efforts to connect entrepreneurs with mentors
FundoLinker, the student-focused startup that tries to connect students with bigger companies in order to offer entrepreneurs with more opportunities, is entering their second phase. They are now seeking to partner with organisations since they already had a user base ready to receive.
FundoLinker is a dedicated education platform for schools, companies, industry veterans and crowd donors. They meet and collaborate so as to craft and implement curricular as well as offer career guidance, professional counselling, financial help, information and jobs to students. They also aim to provide students with better education, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. FundoLinker was founded in January 2016 and is a registered Zimbabwean company.
The startup links students to an integrated set of companies, schools, professionals and donors for better education, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. As testament to what they have been doing FundoLinker has been recognised multiple times by different organisations and some of these recognitions include:
- Seedstars World rated FundoLinker as one of the 10 most promising startups in Zimbabwe on the 25th of October 2017.
- On the 10th of November 2017, FundoLinker was among 15 SADC startups for the Startup Europe Comes to Africa, Capetown Injini EdTech accelerator.
- On the 30th of April 2018, FundoLinker was included among 10 best African recruitment/skills tech startups by The World News and Moguldom.
The startup is now on the verge of rolling out their second platform aka FundoLinker 2.0. The main focus of FundoLinker 1.0 was to build up a foundation network consisting of individuals, students, parents, guardians, individual crowds donors and industry veterans. With 2.0 FundoLinker now shifts their focus to organisations primary and secondary schools, universities, polytechnics, colleges, training institutions, and companies.
The reason why FundoLinker 2.0 had to build up the user base before the organisational partners came into the equation. This was easier than getting organisations to join before users because users did not have to contend with any administrative issues or any risk and users could patiently wait for the organisational network to build up after having joined the platform which is not necessarily true if we spin the situation on its head. For organisers to join they would probably want to join something with a high user base.
Now that FundoLinker has a user base of more than 600 000 and all the accolades mentioned above, it is easier to convince the organisations to partner with them and thus increase revenues which in turn will increase profits. When the platform has both individual users and organisations the support platform that FundoLinker had envisioned can now become a reality and the service will be able to provide individuals with:
- Career guidance
- Financial help
- Information
- Jobs
FundoLinker believes their new version of FundoLinker will undoubtedly excite many students and other individuals because people want to know how companies work and this tool will give them a sneak-peek into various business models and how they work. The fact that these very same companies will be able to also offer guidance to individuals increases the appeal.
Source – TechZim