Mercy Corps’ MicroMentor is working to expand access to mentorship for underserved and difficult-to-reach entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through the development of an open-source mobile mentorship application. The app will be developed with pro bono support from Google through a dedicated team of nine Google employees participating in the Google.org Fellowship program.

The project will reach a total of 5,000 mentors, including 1,750 female entrepreneurs, and especially those incorporating sustainability into their business models, to help close the gap in social capital for underrepresented global entrepreneurs.

The support from the Google.org Fellowship builds on a $1 million grant from Google.org to support MicroMentor’s work to increase the knowledge and adoption of sustainable business practices for MSMEs in the region.

“We are thrilled to receive this support from Google.org to help expand access to mentorship for female entrepreneurs in the MENA region,“ said Anita Ramachandran, Executive Director of MicroMentor. “By leveraging Google’s technical expertise and resources, we can overcome geographical limitations and deliver business resources at scale to under-resourced communities through mentoring.”

Martin Roeske, Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Director for MENA said “At Google, we believe that successful, sustained business mentorship can drive significant outcomes for mentees. By supporting MicroMentor with our most valuable resource – our Google tech experts – we hope to make a contribution to their goal of supporting green businesses and empowering female entrepreneurs in the region.”