10,000 Hours of Volunteer Time Dedicated to Rhode Island Startups
Providence, RI, March 12, 2024 — RIHub’s Venture Mentoring Services (VMS) is thrilled to announce a significant achievement: the collective dedication of over 10,000 volunteer hours to support the growth and success of startups across Rhode Island. This milestone underscores RIHub’s commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within the state.
Since its inception in 2018, founded by Paul Olean, Venture Mentoring Service has been dedicated to enhancing Rhode Island’s economy by nurturing early-stage businesses. Drawing inspiration from the renowned MIT Venture Mentoring Service program, RIHub VMS has adopted proven methodologies to deliver comprehensive mentorship, providing invaluable guidance in a trusted environment. Today, VMS has eighty-five mentors who volunteer their time to support eighty-six active startup entrepreneurs.
RIHub provided the perfect home for VMS, integrating it seamlessly into its program offerings by December 2019. RIHub VMS stands out by offering a unique, deep advisory relationship with entrepreneurs, offering direct business advice, leadership development, and access to a robust network of industry professionals. What sets RIHub VMS apart is its personalized approach to mentorship. Each founder is assigned a dedicated “mentor team” and retains control over the agenda and timing of meetings, fostering a collaborative and empowering environment.
“The Mentors who serve RIHub VMS are one of the most significant assets we have in this state that serve entrepreneurs” said Annette Tonti, Managing Director at RIHub. “We are particularly grateful for the hard work and dedication of Mia Nolan, Program Director, RIHub VMS who has worked tirelessly to build this distinguished community over many years.”
The impact of RIHub VMS is tangible. With an average of 1.3 mentor meetings per day, the program has nurtured 280 ventures to date, with a cumulative total of over 1,514 mentoring sessions conducted throughout the years. This milestone would not have been possible without the dedication of the 142 mentors who have generously volunteered their time since 2018.
RIHub VMS is industry agnostic, catering to entrepreneurs from diverse sectors including food, bio/pharma, medical tech, ocean tech, defense, software, high tech, manufacturing, and engineering. By providing crucial pillars of support such as experienced guidance, strategic advice, networking opportunities, and unwavering encouragement, RIHub VMS empowers entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and thrive.
For more information about RIHub and RIHub’s Venture Mentoring Services, please visit RIHub.org.
About RIHub
RIHub is the regional hub for innovation for Rhode Island and surrounding communities. We provide support for all ‘high global growth’ startups and entrepreneurs as they get established and scale their businesses. RIHub is the ‘ecosystem engine’ that provides mentorship, business planning, introductions to investors, networking, and connections to corporations for early and mid-stage startups. We convene the key players in the region for high growth startups including corporations, universities, government, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovation leaders. RIHub exists to help the dreamers to innovate and to create successful startup businesses by providing the commercial pathway to start here, stay here and scale here.
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Annette Tonti
atonti@rihub.org