The vital role of mentors when starting up

By Denise Matthews

Why supporting Gibraltar's entrepreneurs means looking beyond the launch, towards sustainable growth and opportunities at home and abroad.  

The work behind an idea 

Starting a business can feel like too much of a risk for many, but entrepreneurship is about more than getting an idea off the ground. Finding customers, understanding regulations, managing costs and testing whether a business can work are rarely straightforward. Entrepreneurs accept responsibility for these decisions, but access to the right guidance, connections and opportunities can make an enormous difference to their chances of success. 

Locally, we have an unusual advantage: experienced people across a wide range of industries are often only a conversation away. The question is how we turn that proximity into practical support for those beginning to build something of their own. 

Lyanne Garcia.

Growing businesses from within 

Attracting international businesses and investment remains important to Gibraltar. So does helping people already here develop businesses that can serve our community, create employment and eventually reach markets beyond it. There is an opportunity worth exploring to help locally developed businesses reach customers and markets beyond Gibraltar and why this campaign runs with the ‘Build Local, Think Global’ theme.  

The Isle of Man, where Startup Grind also has an active chapter, offers a Business Start-Up Scheme in its Department for Enterprise combining training, mentoring and conditional financial assistance. The significance is not that the two jurisdictions should have identical schemes, but that grassroots entrepreneurial communities can sit alongside a deliberate framework for helping homegrown businesses get established and scale. 

The support entrepreneurs need is not always a grant. Sometimes it is a clearer route through an unfamiliar process, access to expertise or access to larger markets. 

What experience can unlock 

On a modest scale, Startup Grind Gibraltar's Pitch Battle brings several of these elements together. Shortlisted founders are offered volunteer mentoring, encouraged to develop practical business plans and introduced to experienced professionals they might otherwise struggle to reach. 

Hugo Humen Winey.

Philip Vazquez, Chief Legal Officer at Damex, draws on his experience building a fintech business in Gibraltar. He recognises the jurisdiction’s regulatory strengths but points to the operational difficulties faced by founders: 

“The ambition here is undeniable; the opportunity now lies in building a smoother runway by simplifying foundational hurdles by streamlining early compliance, demystifying corporate banking, fostering an open angel and investment network and allowing and supporting room for ambition and the pursuit of ideas and projects.” 

For Philip, mentoring is not simply reassurance: “It isn’t just about encouragement; it’s about sharing practical, battle-tested lessons so the next wave of founders can bypass familiar pitfalls and scale faster.” His wider message is that promising ideas need support systems that continue to evolve. 

Different perspectives, practical advice 

This year’s mentors bring deliberately different experiences in varied sectors. Alongside Philip are Candice Marsh, Director of Sustainabuild Ltd; Lianne Garcia, Head of Enterprise Services at Gibtelecom Business; Hugo Homen Winey, Head of Customer Experience at Gibraltar International Bank; Steven Oliva-Taylor, Co-Founder and Director of Operations at Vega Gibraltar; and Rózsa Nikolett Horváth Shaw, Partnerships Manager at AURA Ecosystem. 

Candice, returning after mentoring two very different ventures last year, describes the value of reviewing pitches and offering guidance while recognising that “the hard work and preparation were ultimately theirs.” She encourages participants to make connections and refine their pitching skills, with winning “simply an added bonus”. 

Lianne, whose experience includes the boards of the GFSB and Downtown Gibraltar, sees Gibraltar’s accessibility as a strength. “Connecting emerging businesses with that expertise is key to turning great ideas into sustainable, successful ventures,” she says. 

Rózsa brings the discussion back to what happens after the advice. “I would like to see that support continue beyond the competition, particularly through introductions to potential customers and opportunities to test ideas locally. A first paying customer can make a real difference to someone starting out.” 

That observation matters. Mentoring, commercial introductions and the chance to test an idea are not interchangeable with prize money. They are the foundations on which a viable business may be built. 

More than a competition 

The Pitch Battle offers £5,000 in funding, but its wider purpose is to help founders take practical steps. Shortlisted applicants prepare business plans and projections, receive optional mentoring and face independent assessment. Six finalists will present their ideas on 19 November. Not every venture will win or succeed, but each can leave with stronger thinking, useful feedback and new relationships. The programme has grown into something that begins to address a need which was not necessarily obvious when Startup Grind Gibraltar was launched back in 2017.   

An invitation to get involved 

Entrepreneurship is not only for entrepreneurs. A conversation, introduction, first purchase or simply showing up can matter. The Startup Grind Gibraltar Pitch Battle Final is free and open to everyone on Thursday 19 November at 5:30pm in the Borealis Room, Sunborn Gibraltar. Register at https://www.startupgrind.com/e/mw6jrt/. 

Gibraltar's international business community is one of its greatest strengths. Connecting that strength with the people building businesses here could create opportunities that extend well beyond our shores.