Abstract:

Purpose – The primary purpose of the current study is to systematically review the effectiveness of mentorship and how it is linked to sustenance and scalability of social start-ups and social entrepreneurs.

Proposed Design/Methodology/Approach – A total of 50 articles published between 2010 and 2020 were selected and systematically reviewed.

Findings – This study proves that mentoring develops entrepreneurs’ ability to execute social entrepreneurial tasks, including long-term value creation, identifying opportunities, mobilizing resources, and management to back up a particular community, thus permanently transforming their lives. This study further develops a conceptual model as a future research agenda for the entrepreneurial skills and mentorship process required for social start-ups to achieve financial and social purposes. 

Practical/Theoretical implications – The review is believed to serve as a foundation and valuable aid for entrepreneurial mentoring in social start-ups. However, more empirical evidence is required to validate the benefits.

Originality/Value – This is the first literature review to study the effectiveness of mentorship in social entrepreneurship to achieve collective impact and profitability.

Keywords – Social start-ups, social entrepreneurship, mentoring, social entrepreneurs.