London is a hotbed of entrepreneurs. There are some young entrepreneurs who lack the finance and guidance to get their good ideas off the ground. London School of Business & Finance (LSBF) and the entrepreneurship initiative Mamba Mentors partnered together to help a new wave of entrepreneurs get their businesses started. Mamba Mentors is an annual programme that provides guidance, expertise and finance to budding self-starters, with a particular focus on promoting ideas that forge links between the UK and Africa.

There was a need for an website to be created to promote this programme, provide useful background information about the initiative and initiate the process for members registration.

Being solely responsible for the UI and UX design, the site was created to match the young corporate sensibilities of the audience and offer the user a springboard interface to interact with others through social media integration featuring Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blog modules throughout all areas of the site. Based on a vertical two-column grid with a horizontal baseline text layout, the creation of the site underwent an iterative process from initial wireframe generation through to final launch from build stage.

Participating candidates had to submit business plans through the site, where LSBF academics review the viability of the business idea. Through the process of workshops and shortlisted interview meetings, the selected participants pitch their projects to the Mamba Mentors, who evaluate the business ventures based on feasibility, originality and potential.

On first launch during summer 2013, following just over two months of promotion, the project received more than 70 business plans, covering sectors ranging from agriculture and mining to international security and ecommerce. After a detailed review by LSBF academics and a board of business experts, five business plans were shortlisted for potential investment of that year. The initiative and website continues to this day.