On December 18th, Design Terminal opened the application to its spring Mentoring Program. The best startups with social impact focus can undergo a 3-month long business development. The deadline is at the beginning of February.
The organization is looking for candidates who aim to provide prosperity for their community aiming to incubate early-stage startups. In 2017, ⅓ of the applications came from abroad. Startups can develop their business models, their organizational and legal background, and their marketing communications. After the mentoring sessions, the businesses become more valuable and are ready to welcome their first investors.
The specialty of the program is that Design Terminal is decidedly helping companies that also contribute to the solution of a social problem with their business idea. Former mentees include Route4U that aids the commute of wheelchair users, Platio that develops pavement generating energy, and GyermekSOS that eases emergency healthcare. The talent management program, that was awarded by the European Commission in 2014, is supported by local and international companies as well as by the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary.
One of the strengths of the program is its mentor pool consisting of local and international professionals including Gergely Hodicska from IMB Budapest Lab, Zoltán Várdy, media expert, and Zsófia Pulay, innovation guru at Deutsche Bank. Besides the professional help, Design Terminal emphasizes the importance of integrating the startups to the ecosystem – the Design Terminal Card and the team building events both guarantee that the teams adapt easily to their new environment.
Application is open on the website until February 4th, 2018.
