A local group of veteran business executives and entrepreneurs have banded together to form a non-profit organization dedicated to mentoring entrepreneurs in rural North Carolina.
The organization calls itself EntreDot.
"EntreDot is entrepreneurs connecting the dots," said Bill Warner, co-founder and executive director. Warner also is managing partner of business consulting firm Paladin and Associates and chairman of the Triangle Accredited Capital Forum, a network of angel investors.
EntreDot aims to provide entrepreneurs with long-term mentoring relationships to help them deal with day-to-day and strategic issues. The mentors initially will meet face-to-face with entrepreneurs in order to earn their trust, but ultimately they will work together online.
"A mentor in Raleigh can have a relationship and spend quality time with an entrepreneur in Rutherford County or Martin County," said Warner.
EntreDot is backed by a $70,000 two-year grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, according to Warner. But, at least for now, all of the mentoring is being done by volunteers.
The organization was formed about 18 months ago but has been operating in stealth mode while it sought seed money. It also has been working quietly with entrepreneurs.
Larry Larson, founder and CEO of Larry's Beans, an 18-year-old Raleigh company that sells fair trade organic coffee, said he turned to EntreDot mentors for help last year after wasting a lot of time -- and money -- on a consulting firm.
He found working with EntreDot much more beneficial. The organization's mentors helped him prioritize what issues he needed to focus on and make decisions much more quickly.
"It was almost like business therapy," he said.
Entrepreneurs who are interested in linking up with a mentor, or executives interested in being mentors, can e-mail info@entredot.org
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