NewfoundOcean, a four-day training and mentoring program for entrepreneurs involved in ocean technologies, will be held in St. John’s from March 18 to 22, said MentorCamp CEO Permjot Valia, who is helping to organize the event.

The event will kick off with a bootcamp, which will be open to a range of Newfoundland companies. It will close with a one-day program based on the MentorCamp format, which Valia devised by holding sessions in the past two years in Halifax with entrepreneurs drawn largely from Atlantic Canada – entrepreneurs spend a day meeting a range of international mentors, so that the young businesses are  saturated in new ideas and recommendations.

In MentorCamp 2012 in September for example, nine companies (including one from South Africa) met with more than 40 mentors from as far afield as South Africa, the U.K., Silicon Valley, New York, Arkansas, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

MentorCamp, Valia’s Halifax-based company, will organize NewfoundOcean, which will be supported by the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, McInnes Cooper and Deloitte. (Disclosure: The principals of Entrevestor have done consulting work for MentorCamp in the past.)

Valia said he hopes the event will feature about eight Newfoundland companies, and 12 to 16 mentors.  He noted that the makeup would differ slightly from the more tech-focused MentorCamp events, because the Oceans segment tends to be more specialized.

The idea is to bring together local and international entrepreneurs and mix them together with a similar grouping of mentors so that everyone goes away with fresh ideas on how the businesses should grow.

“If this is successful, it will become an annual thing,” said Valia.

Though he resides in the U.K., Valia spends a lot of time advising (and sometimes investing in) startups in Atlantic Canada, South Africa and Arkansas. During his visits to St. John’s – where he is an investor in advertising databank operator Adfinitum -- Valia said he’s been struck by the advantages the city has for oceans-related industries, such as the National Research Council facilities and the Marine Institute as well as the area’s  extreme maritime conditions which are perfect for testing products. 

Valia said he plans to convene a panel of experts to help choose the companies to participate in the program.

He has begun to talk to international mentors about making the trip. One person he has already tagged for the project is Jeff Amermine, Technology Licensing Officer of the University of Arkansas, because he has such a keen understanding of the relationship between science and business.

Valia is planning to hold his third MentorCamp in Halifax in the autumn of 2013.