Mentorship Program for accelerated development launched

The StarTech project, implemented by NALED in partnership with the Government of Serbia and supported by Philip Morris, is launching a mentorship program aimed at empowering startups through professional development and business skill enhancement.

The program focuses on fostering innovation, driving business growth, scaling products and services, and expanding into global markets.

From March to June this year, selected startups in the first program cycle will receive mentor support through a combination of mentorship sessions, consultations, guidance, recommendations, and joint work on achieving agreed-upon goals and business plans. Mentors will assist in improving business strategies and models, validating ideas, designing go-to-market strategies, commercializing services, developing sales systems and processes, and accessing funding and investors. Special attention will be given to brand development and positioning strategies.

Although Serbia's startup and innovation ecosystem is rapidly evolving, local startups still face numerous challenges-ranging from insufficient business and financial literacy to limited sales and marketing experience and a lack of knowledge about international markets. To address these challenges, NALED conducted a thorough analysis of startup needs and carefully matched them with mentors who have extensive practical knowledge and experience. Based on this, a tailored methodology was developed to achieve faster and measurable results.

The first cohort of mentored startups includes BeeBoo d.o.o, Persida d.o.o, Dušan Pavlović PR, Privacy Champion d.o.o, and RotoDyna d.o.o.