Stand by me
An Advice4Growth article by Roger Field and Robert Morris
Business mentoring service for EMIN members
When Gillian Marles was made redundant from her role as a designer 10 years ago, her life was turned upside down. Indeed, with no money coming in, Marles' anxieties grew as various job applications proved unsuccessful. Nevertheless, when all avenues appeared to be closed, Marles opted for the last resort - starting her own business.
Marles admitted that she enrolled on the Bristol & Avon Enterprise Agency?s business start-up course at the worst of times. "I was flat broke and had nothing but a few ideas, but Mike Mears, the man who ran the course I was on, said 'why don't you apply to the Prince's Trust for some start-up money?'"
Acting on the advice proved a wise decision when Marles received £1,000 towards the business and an extra £1,500 for computer equipment. But the money wasn't unconditional and she had to let a business mentor oversee her venture. Indeed, Martin McMahon, an executive working for a Bristol-based company, joined her firm in a consultancy role, much to Marles' delight.
She believes McMahon's guidance proved instrumental in establishing her graphic and interior design business, 3Sixty. And Michelle France, manager of a British Volunteer Mentor Association (BVMA) project, is convinced that all business start-ups would benefit from similar outside help.
"It's not a case of providing advice, it's a case of another pair of eyes looking at it saying, 'have you considered this, what about the other?'" France said. "So a sounding board, someone to bounce ideas off, somebody to encourage you to look at different avenues, somebody just to talk to."
Lending an ear?
Business people with little experience had no one to turn to for advice until four years ago, when the BVMA was set up. Research carried out by the Department of Trade and Industry found that business start-ups in America were benefiting from volunteer mentors, and as a result a similar scheme was introduced in the UK. With about 40 enterprise agencies - containing 20 mentors each - agreeing to carry out the scheme, it wasn't long until business start-ups across the UK had access to the programme.
Yet sending out successful business people that were willing to share their knowledge would not have been enough, according to France. She believes the mentor has to know the state of the business market they are entering, and be aware of various grant and loan schemes available. As a result, each mentor attends training seminars and has to complete an assessment in front of a qualified assessor before helping inexperienced entrepreneurs.
As if running their own companies weren't enough, successful business people taking part in the BVMA project are also willing to help other ventures free of charge. France believes entrepreneurs that become mentors do so after receiving help with their own companies. "Some of them have actually been enterprise agency clients themselves 15 years ago and are giving something back," she said.
But she admits some mentors are fulfilling their own agendas when joining the scheme. "Some are using it for personal development reasons as mentoring is a nice skill to have," she said. "Some are doing it because they enjoy expanding their own personal networks. Motivations vary tremendously."
...and a helping hand
With 14,000 companies benefiting from the scheme it would appear that business mentors are having a positive effect on start-ups. Nevertheless, the success rate will falter if mentors fail to establish good relationships with their clients, according to France. "The important thing about mentoring is getting the relationship right. To be able to do that you need a good pool of mentors from which you can try and match to your clients," she said.
Indeed, as the number of business start-ups carried out by women continues to rise, the need for female mentors has also grown. "Where you are getting more female businesses, or where your mentors are perhaps all male, you should be looking to recruit some females just to expand the pool to make it easier in terms of the matching," France said.
While the benefits of the scheme appear to be unquestionable, there are some entrepreneurs whose overconfidence prevents them from enlisting help from mentors. France believes the ignorance of some business owners could be their downfall. "There is nobody who couldn't benefit from some support or another fresh pair of eyes, nobody at all," she said. "Therefore getting them [inexperienced business owners] into the business support fold in the first place actually helps for the future, for them to realise the worth of business support."
EMIN members are now able to access the help of an experienced business mentor to support their business.
The service is FREE and if you would like to know more.....Read More.
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