Munich, March 27, 2023 – Mentessa, the Munich start-up that advocates a connected learning culture and equal opportunities for everyone in the workplace, has won prominent support for its new corporate advisory board. The future Advisory Board will be supported by Inga Dransfeld-Haase, President of the Federal Association of Personnel Managers, and Joachim Rotzinger, CEO of Ingentis, former Managing Director of the Haufe Group.
The collaborative learning platform digitizes workplace rituals to bring employees together on the basis of skills – so that they can learn more from and with each other.
Since the first round of financing last year, Mentessa has successfully evolved from an enterprise to a scalable SaaS model and is now heralding the next phase of growth.
The goal of the Corporate Advisory Board is to support Mentessa on its mission to create a better world of work with its leadership and industry experience.
The young company completed a first round of financing a year ago. The goal: to bring employees together for learning and collaboration based on skills. Since the investment, the team has grown to ten people and has quintupled its turnover. After the team, led by a diverse management team, has validated the suitability of the product in the corporate environment, the next step is to increase its footprint thanks to a SaaS platform, especially in the area of fast-growing scale-ups. In order to professionalize the company organization and to establish strategic partnerships, the team relies on the exchange with top executives.
This is exactly what Mentessa is all about. As a collaborative learning platform, Mentessa brings people in companies together so that they can learn from and with each other. The company acts not only as a facilitator for isolated matching, but also as a “work mentor” who supports a culture change towards more collaboration and knowledge sharing in the flow of work. Mentessa takes a unique approach to creating a silo-free culture, breaking down barriers to diversity and collaboration in the workplace, by leveraging “learning by connecting”.
Companies often struggle to attract new talent. Therefore, a connected learning culture is right at the top of the agenda – newly hired employees often need several months to actually be able to contribute their knowledge. Sometimes they even leave the company altogether before they have the opportunity.
The rapid rise of remote work has shown that email, messenger and intranet are not enough to integrate talent. New employees working from home cannot interact with others, get advice or experience the company. Current enterprise technologies do not focus enough on the experience of each employee and do not provide a safe and flexible space for rapid learning and continuous development.
This is a selection of topics that are particularly close to the hearts of the Advisory Board members. As President of the BPM, Inga Dransfeld-Haase has been committed to the transformation of work for several years, including with the annual Human Resource Management Congress (PMK). Among other things, Joachim Rotzinger is on the advisory board of COPETRI, the community for people in transformation, and a strong advocate of concepts that unleash the potential of employees in organizations. Mentessa’s founder, Tina Ruseva, has also launched a movement to transform work by founding the Big & Growing New Work Festival.
Inga Dransfeld-Haase, Director People & Culture BP Europa SE (DACH, LUX), says:
“I was fascinated by the strong Mentessa team and their brilliant. I would like to invest my scarce free time purposely and find it exciting and enriching to pass on my knowledge and experience. This is exactly what Mentessa enables for organizations.”
Joachim Rotzinger, CEO of Ingentis, says:
“When we learn from and build on the ideas and skills of others, we create an inclusive work culture in which everyone can develop continuously and flexibly. This helps to react faster to change, to innovate, and ultimately to find more fulfilment at work.”
Tina Ruseva, CEO and Founder of Mentessa, says:
“In the continuously changing VUCA world, learning is becoming a key competence of organizations. Empowering employees, regardless of background, role or skill set, is not only fair, it is also a necessity for innovation and success in the future of work.”
