This 25-year-old from Hyderabad started a firm that can get you a mentor from a top-notch company while you're still in college

Finding a mentor is often not as easy as picking up a packet of noodles off a supermarket shelf. With this start-up's brand new idea though, it may just have become that simple. Here’s the chance to equip yourselves with the skills the market needs, while gaining a career mentor in the process. 

MentorMind, a platform launched recently by a 25-year-old from Hyderabad, helps students work on real-time work situations in the form of challenges put forth by companies, which not only make them market-ready, but also help them gain a mentor.  

"Currently, nobody is addressing the problem of acquainting students with the industry before they finish college in the manner that we are hoping to do," says the 25-year-old CEO,  Luvieen Alva, highlighting their goal. Expect this Hyderabad-based start-up to make their presence felt in colleges like Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, St Francis Loyola Academy, St Mary's and others, starting this May. 

Accessibility to mentors is difficult in India. We want them to be accessible across all kinds of geographies. Also, a few colleges are pushing the product in classrooms, asking students to complete a challenge as their homework  

Luvieen Alva, CEO, MentorMind

The concept of MentorMind — opt for challenges (set by organisations like Village Capital and The Hyderabad Academy of Psychology), prove your mettle and gain incentives or better yet, an internship! Students learn the skills, while companies gauge their performance — making it a win-win situation for both. They also aim to redefine mentorship which doesn't get its due in India. "Students opt for a certification course, which can be shown on their CV, rather than opt for a mentor, which doesn't have a strong value proposition for them," the CEO tells us. 

Where it all began: The basic idea of the platform was conceptualised back in September 2014 along with a three-member team. They conducted a market survey was conducted to analyse how open students are to the idea of mentorship  

Though the platform is promising, the hesitation of Indian institutions to partner with external organisations is an obstacle, albeit a surmountable one, and something that Luvieen foresaw. "But as long as they are open to the idea of us working with students directly, we don't mind," concludes Luvieen.