Join the AU-Startups Mentor Network.
A standing network of operators, founders, and senior practitioners supporting early-stage African founders inside our programs — and through curated one-to-one matches off them.
Most early African founders do not lack ambition — they lack honest access to people who have done the work before. The Mentor Network closes that gap with a curated, accountable group of practitioners.
Inside the Founder Readiness Program, SOLVE with AI, and our annual Hackathon — and in curated one-to-one matches with founders we have vetted through those programs.
A few hours a month, an honest signature on our mentor code of conduct, and a commitment to make founders better — not to recruit, sell, or extract.
Four kinds of mentor, one shared standard.
We build a small, deliberately senior bench. The mentors who do best in the network are generous, specific, and comfortable telling founders the inconvenient truth early.
Founders and senior operators who have shipped, scaled, raised, or wound down a real venture in or for Africa.
Engineers, product leaders, designers, growth practitioners, finance and legal experts willing to share craft.
Angels, VCs, and corporate advisors with active African deal experience and a generous instinct for early-stage feedback.
Researchers, policy hands, and legal professionals who can guide founders through regulation, IP, and structuring questions.
Light commitment, real standards.
We keep the network deliberately small and deliberately useful. Mentors are matched on context, not headcount.
A few hours a month. Most mentors choose between cohort office hours, one-to-one matches, and occasional teach-ins — you decide which.
Inside our programs (Founder Readiness, SOLVE with AI, Hackathon) and through opt-in one-to-one matches with founders we vouch for.
No selling, no recruiting from cohorts, no equity asks. Mentors agree to our code of conduct and our conflict-of-interest disclosure, the same standards we hold ourselves to.
A serious peer community, structured prep before each match, public credit when you want it, and an honest say in how the programs are designed.
Tell us how you would like to show up.
Applications are reviewed in batches matched to upcoming program cohorts. The more specific you are about the kind of founders you want to support, the better the match.
Looking for one of our founder programs instead? See the Founder Readiness Program.