Amazon India Launches Amazon Mentor Connect program for Start-ups

Amazon.in today announced the launch of the “Amazon Mentor Connect” ahead of Amazon’s flagship event- Smbhav. The Amazon Mentor Connect program is aimed at accelerating the growth of start-ups and emerging brands owners enrolled in the Amazon Launchpad program - helping them gain exclusive access to guidance from VCs, industry veterans and Amazon leaders through expert knowledge sharing sessions, networking events and 1:1 mentorship sessions. Mentors from educational institutions and VC firms like Fireside Ventures, DSG Consumer Partners, Elevation Capital, Tomorrow Capital have already signed up for this program and are looking forward to contributing to the Indian startup growth story.

Start-ups and emerging brands enrolled in the Amazon Launchpad program can access guidance from these mentors through various ways. This includes one to one mentorship with chosen mentors over a 3-month period, ongoing networking opportunities with a wider pool of industry experts, or knowledge sharing sessions between these experts and other Launchpad brands. This offers entrepreneurs a platform to engage, learn and showcase their startups to the industry’s leading subject matter experts to help tackle strategic and functional challenges. The Amazon Mentor Connect program is not limited to start-ups and emerging brand owners enrolled in the Amazon Launchpad program, but will also be extended to the winners of the Amazon Smbhav Entrepreneurship challenge in the upcoming Amazon Smbhav summit. The winners will be the first cohort of startups to receive the benefits associated with the Amazon Mentor Connect program.

“India has a large startup ecosystem that is key to disruptive innovation and accelerating India’s progress towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Most of these startups are led by first time entrepreneurs who have the passion to drive a change, but don’t have the experience to deal with the breadth of challenges they face along the way. With Amazon Mentor Connect program, we aim to create a support system to help start-ups unlock their potential by providing them with the right kind of mentoring that can help them scale their business, avoid blind spots, learn from experience of existing leaders, open new doors and help them unlock infinite possibilities for a Digital India.” said Pranav Bhasin, Director, MSME & Selling Partner Experience, Amazon India.

“We would love to give back to the Indian startup ecosystem by sharing knowledge and insights gained over years by mentors who are also visionary entrepreneurs, to help budding brands grow in an accelerated manner. We are looking to understand grassroots level challenges, understand trends and identify ways of solving these problems for emerging brands. Not only that, VCs like ourselves are always on the lookout for opportunities to meet new and upcoming brands. Amazon Mentor Connect provides a trusted and structured platform for bringing like-minded people like us together. We are grateful to Amazon for this unique collaborative program, we are thrilled to get started on this journey!” said Prayag Mohanty, Sr. Vice President from Fireside Ventures.

“Since we are in the initial stages of starting up, we come across a number of operational and strategic hurdles that need to be overcome. Having a sounding board always helps new entrepreneurs like me make the right business calls. But the support I have from my personal network is not always relevant or effective for me. There are few formal channels through which I can reach out to seasoned industry experts to fast track our brand’s growth” says Saurabh Sharma, Brand owner FutureWagon. 

Amazon Launchpad is a unique program that showcases differentiated products from startups and emerging brands to millions of Amazon customers and has been instrumental in helping brands scale at an accelerated rate since its inception in India in December 2016. The program helps enrolled brands shorten their learning curve for selling on Amazon by providing critical advisory and brand development support. Amazon Launchpad works with a wide network of ecosystem entities - VCs, angel investors, entrepreneurs and is uniquely positioned to create value through its new program Amazon Mentors Access by offering brands and industry experts a unified platform to engage. Amazon Launchpad currently showcases over 2 Lakh+ unique products offered by 800+ emerging brands across 30 different product categories. Popular sectors catered to by these brands include health & personal care, beauty & grooming, grocery and home products. 

The second edition of ‘Amazon Smbhav’ will be hosted from April 15-18th, 2021. Smbhav 2021 will bring together important industry and thought leaders for invigorating discussions on way ahead towards creating an AatmaNirbhar Bharat. Amazon Smbhav will be a four-day virtual summit hosted around the theme of ‘Unlocking Infinite Possibilities for India’ across sectors like manufacturing, retail, logistics, IT/ITeS, content creators, start-ups, brands and entrepreneurs across India. Over 30,000 participants are expected to participate at Amazon Smbhav, learning about best practices and industry trends from over 70 speakers. At Smbhav 2021, interested start-ups and brands can participate in the Amazon Launchpad masterclass on day-2 of Amazon Smbhav i.e. on Friday, April 16, 2021, at 6:15 pm.