January is National Mentoring Month, a perfect time to launch iMantri.com, an online site using Web 2.0 features to build a social networking site designed to mentor employees, executives and entrepreneurs.

Some more details from iMantri:

iMantri applies the best of both mentoring and social networking to create a non-hierarchical mentoring relationship based on individual competencies. This means a member can be both a mentor and a mentee and can share their gifts as well as tap into the wisdom of their peers.



- Fifty-five percent of respondents to a HR.com survey reported using professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, to share best practices with colleagues.



-Forty-nine percent use professional networking sites to get answers to issues they are face on their jobs.



- Most mentoring programs are informal. They lack structure and continuity, resources and tools, a supporter network and a large enough pool of possible matches that inspires and guides mentees and their mentors.

iMantri’s core features include:



-- Competency Assessment

-- Goals/Issues based Mentoring

-- Mentor-Mentee Matching Engine

-- Mentoring Framework and Tools: Mentors will be able to define needs in detail, create a mentoring process and implement it using tools for planning, interactions, feedback, and rating.



iMantri is founded by veterans in the field of management and technology supported by domain experts from the fields of coaching, mentoring, training and leadership development worlds. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley and is currently self-funded. The website is at www.imantri.com.

More:

What does iMantri mean?

“Mantri” (pronounced as “Man” “Three”) is a Sanskrit word and means a minister, wise man, a counselor, a trusted advisor and a mentor. (Think of Alexander the Great and his “Mantri” Aristotle.) In addition to Sanskrit, the word has similar meaning and connotation in other languages such as Malay, Indo-China, and Arabic cultures.

Who is behind iMantri?

iMantri is founded by veterans who’ve had experience in startups as well as in executive roles at corporations. The founders of iMantri have been thru the roller coaster of business and learnt along the way the value and importance of mentoring relationships – both formal and informal.

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