19 Out of 20 Startups Will Fail Without Active Mentorship- CEO of VFD Group

Chief Executive Officer of VFD Group, Nonso Okpala, has called on Africa’s business leaders to move beyond traditional mentorship and embrace what he described as “active mentorship” to unlock the continent’s next wave of entrepreneurs.

He delivered the remarks during a keynote address at the 7th edition of the Mentor MatchUp Challenge (MMC 7.0), held in Lagos, Nigeria.
Nonso said Africa’s youth empowerment challenge cannot be solved through advice alone, urging business leaders to back promising young entrepreneurs with capital, risk-tolerant support, and long-term commitment.

“There is something better than mentorship — it is active mentorship. How do we get mentors who are not just vested, but truly invested in the lives of the people they mentor,” Nonso said.

He argued that business leaders have a responsibility to support young people who demonstrate discipline, commitment, and ambition, even when their ideas appear untested or unconventional.

“If you see a young person with a strong dream, the right attitude, and consistent effort, you owe it to that individual to invest. You can’t always predict what the dream will become,” he said.

Drawing on VFD Group’s own growth journey, Nonso noted that few would have anticipated the company’s current scale when it began as a small, unproven venture. He said this underscores the importance of belief, patience, and early backing in building successful enterprises.
Nonso also highlighted Africa’s low tolerance for failure as a major barrier to innovation, pointing to regulatory and cultural environments that discourage experimentation. He said modern entrepreneurship requires systems that allow founders to test, fail, iterate, and grow.
“You must create an environment that can accommodate failure,” he said, adding that global venture models accept that many ideas will not succeed, but the few that do can drive economic transformation and community uplift.

With more than half of Nigeria’s population under the age of 20, Nonso said structural reform is inevitable and urgent. He warned that existing business and regulatory frameworks will be reshaped by the innovations of younger generations.

“The structures that served our parents are no longer sufficient,” he said. “The structures serving us today will also be significantly altered.”
He called on regulators to adopt more adaptive and forward-looking policy frameworks that align with the creativity and pace of emerging entrepreneurs, warning that failure to do so could compromise long-term economic stability.

Nonso praised the Mentor Matchup Challenge for fostering an ecosystem that connects mentorship, innovation, and opportunity, describing it as the type of platform Africa needs to develop entrepreneurial capacity at scale.

“Mentorship builds capacity, and without capacity development, the future is bleak,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Nonso encouraged young entrepreneurs to remain resilient despite systemic challenges, commending their drive and perseverance.