U.S. State Department Expands E-Mentor Corps on ImagineNations Network

ImagineNations Network Provides Innovative Solution for Mentorship Opportunities

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ImagineNations Group is pleased to announce that its social networking platform for young entrepreneurs, called ImagineNations Network (www.imagine-network.org), has been selected as a vehicle to launch the U.S. State Department's E-Mentor Corps initiative.

ImagineNations Network (INN) is a global technology platform with a focus on emerging markets that enables young entrepreneurs to connect at the local and global level to peers, mentors and resources to help them build businesses and livelihoods around the world. Through INN, entrepreneurs are matched with mentors online from around the world. E-Mentor Corps, first announced at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in April and designed to inspire a new legion of mentors to support young entrepreneurs, will add thousands of E-Mentors from global businesses to the mentors already registered on Imagine-Network.org.

"We are eager to tap the power of technology, empowering entrepreneurs to grow their networks and businesses," said ImagineNations Group Managing Director Alan H. Fleischmann. "E-Mentors are an important resource for entrepreneurs, providing them with the necessary guidance, advice and support globally and locally."

Entrepreneurs and E-Mentors will be recruited worldwide, and some of the initial partner organizations include Accenture, AMIDEAST, Babson College, Business for Diplomatic Action, Ernst & Young, Endeavor, Financial Services Volunteer Corps, Global Business School Network, IBM, Intel, The Kauffman Foundation-Global Entrepreneurship Week and TechWadi. Through ImagineNations Network, young people, NGOs, mentors, supporters, financial institutions, commercial outlets and others will interact virtually to promote youth entrepreneurship and economic development, exchanging ideas, experiences and learning, as well as providing access to financial and marketplace services. INN was developed by ImagineNations Group in partnership with Mercy Corps and with the support from Cisco Foundation and the Global Partnership for Youth Investment (GPYI) of the World Bank.

The Summit on Entrepreneurship followed through on President Obama's commitment to identify how the U.S. can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.  It represents an opportunity to highlight and support business and social entrepreneurship in Muslim-majority countries, including their minority populations, and Muslim communities around the world. The E-Mentor Corps initiative is led by State Department's Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP).

For more information about INN and the E-Mentor Corps, please visit www.imagine-network.org.

About ImagineNations® Group

ImagineNations® Group is a partnership-based global network that provides aspiring entrepreneurs with the financial capital, technologies and business/leadership coaching that young women and men need in order to start micro- and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging and frontier markets. Along with the World Bank Group, ImagineNations is the co-founder of the Global Partnership for Youth Investment (GPYI) and has been working to empower and inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs by creating innovative, large-scale investment strategies that promote development opportunities with specific initiatives in South-East Asia, Africa, and across the Middle East and North Africa. In developing ImagineNations Network (INN) for young entrepreneurs, ImagineNations realized its partnership-based global vision in a technology platform, mobilizing and empowering young entrepreneurs, connecting them virtually to supporters, mentors, capital and business development resources.

SOURCE ImagineNations Group, Inc.