I have been contemplating a post on this topic for some time. Two weeks in Africa this summer, completely disconnected from the Internet (quite a perfect antidote to modern life), gave me lots of food for thought. The extent of ‘giving back’ that goes on across that continent is truly inspiring.

However, over the past week I experienced a now-familiar phenomenon at Seedcamp here in London – a programme aimed at supporting the entrepreneurial ethos outside the USA. And, let me tell you, the spirit of ‘giving back’ is alive and well within our own business communities too.

At Seedcamp Week, start-up teams from all over Europe and the Middle East compete to win seed funding for their businesses. Competitors’ days are peppered with meetings with investors, coaching from mentors, masterclasses on key topics, and time taken to continually evolve their own business thinking.

A critical component to the Seedcamp programme is the concept of mentoring. I have been a PR mentor at Seedcamp since it started three years ago, and I continue to get an enormous amount of value from the time I spend with both the teams and other mentors. [In the spirit of full disclosure, this year we also agreed to help out with the event’s PR … but that’s for another post].

So this year there were over 100 mentors who donated their time to advise the 22 start-up teams and offer insight on everything from product development, through growth strategies to marketing. Mentors are often high-profile, very successful people in their fields … so what motivates them to take valuable time out of the office in order to meet with these young, enthusiastic entrepreneurs, sharing the business knowledge that has probably taken years to build up?

Although I certainly can’t speak from the perspective of one of the many entrepreneurial ‘rockstars’ who are there as mentors, I can share my own insight as to why I do it. For me it comes down to this: you are only as good as what you share. By being generous with our time, our ideas and our own networks, individuals get a real sense of accomplishment, and if it works in the way that’s intended, the people we connect with get something out of it too.

Perhaps the motivation is ultimately selfish – isn’t there a little part of everyone that loves feeling like we can help short-cut another company’s success, by sharing the good, the bad and the ugly we have encountered along the way? Or offering basic insight on a particular skill or strategy that is core to our own business, but which might be completely new to a start-up business?

For instance, many first-time founders hear frequently about the importance of PR – but knowing what goes into a PR strategy, and when to start thinking about it can be very useful information to an early-stage business.

Sometimes it is difficult to be generous – particularly when you feel that it isn’t being reciprocated. But as a firm believer in ‘what goes around comes around’, I think there’s a benefit to all of us in continuing to nurture, support and encourage entrepreneurs in the UK and beyond, in whatever way we can.