Get Mentoring

Maria Miller throws her support behind International Women’s Day

getadmin — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:40:55 +0000

Photo (from left to right): Ruth Lowbridge (SFEDI), Irene Graham (BBA/Mentorsme), Julie Hall (Women Unlimited) and Maria Miller MP.

Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities kicked off International Women’s Day by attending a Meet A Mentor breakfast at the THRIVE! conference, hosted by Women Unlimited. The breakfast event brought together mentors that have completed the Government funded mentor training with female entrepreneurs looking for mentors. This activity forms part of a series of Government funded activities designed to raise awareness of the benefits of mentoring amongst female led businesses.

She then went on to open the THRIVE! conference, which is known as 'the event of the year for female business owners and entrepreneurs'. The conference hosted more than 200 delegates and saw a number of inspirational speakers share their own experiences of running their own enterprises with the audience.

Maria spent time with Ruth Lowbridge, executive chair of Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative which delivered Get Mentoring, the government funded programme to recruit and train thousands of volunteer business mentors, to discover more about how mentoring can support newly established and growing enterprises throughout the UK. She also met with Julie Hall the founder of Women Unlimited, created to support females looking to establish and grow their own business, to find out more about its work in promoting and supporting female entrepreneurship across the country.

In opening the conference, Maria Miller MP addressed the audience to highlight the importance of female entrepreneurship to the UK economy. She said, “There are now more than one and a quarter million women who are self-employed – this increased by 76,000 during the course of 2012. These businesses are adding to the UK’s global competitiveness, and contributing to growth.

“It is great to see so many women turning their ideas and enthusiasm into reality. And today you’ll hear from some of those women, women with great success stories who can both inspire and challenge us.”

Julie Hall from Women Unlimited said, “The theme of this year’s conferences was ‘Grow Your Business Your Way’ and we were delighted that we were able to encourage and motivate the talented business women who attended THRIVE through a series of inspirational guest speakers and informative break-out sessions designed to support those who are running their own business or are looking to set up a new venture. The opening address from Maria Miller set the agenda for the day and captured the passion and enthusiasm that we have for encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship across a diverse range of business ventures.”

Prior to the conference, Women Unlimited teamed up with SFEDI, Mentorsme and the Institute of Entrepreneurs to run the special Meet a Mentor event to promote the benefits of mentoring for new and growing businesses and provide valuable introductions for those looking for the support of a business mentor.

Ruth Lowbridge from SFEDI said, “Mentoring has been shown to be an extremely valuable tool for a small businesses with many entrepreneurs benefiting from having somebody on hand who can act as a sounding board, share their experiences, and offer a fresh perspective on how to approach the challenges that come with running your own business. “With a host of recently trained volunteers , there has never been a better opportunity for business owners to find a mentor that can make a difference to their company.”

As part of the scheme, volunteer mentors have pledged one hour of their time per month for the next two years to working with a new or growing business.

Speaking about the value of mentoring, Maria Miller added, “The Government is working alongside the private sector to improve access to and stimulate the demand for business mentoring. Giving women inspiring role models to help guide and inspire them can be invaluable in giving them the confidence to achieve their dreams.”

“Our vision for business mentoring in the UK is for a vibrant, effective and sustainable mentoring network that supports both start-up and established small and medium sized companies locally, helping them to grow.”

The volunteer mentors are made up from the small business community and can be accessed through www.mentorsme.co.uk, national mentoring portal owned and operated by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). The 15,000 volunteer mentors join 12,000 business mentors from across 115 mentoring organisations available through the portal.

Mentee Case Study: Nicolas Frison

natalieparker — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:44:25 +0000

Nicolas, tell us about your business?
Room Seasons is a catering company focused around providing in-room dining for 3 and 4-star hotels that don’t provide full room service. We provide rapid, reliable and timely delivery to hotels and their guests – guaranteeing fresh food at the correct temperature within 35 minutes. Hotel guests call the front desk and the staff can simply place an order on our extranet platform within seconds. The catering will focus on providing high service standards and original cuisine using the finest local ingredients.

What led you to set up your own business?
There are several reasons really: I’m passionate about the hospitality industry, there was an opportunity to run an enterprise with people I trust, I want to be my own boss and develop my own business ideas, and I think Room Seasons will make money.

What are the difficulties you have faced or expect to face in setting up and running your business?
Coming from France it has been a challenge to get all the information that will allow me to set up a business in the UK. There are thousands of websites with differing information and it’s very hard to know which ones to trust. The legalities involved with setting up a food business, the certification required and the complex tax laws all make it difficult to have a clear view of where to start. That’s before I’ve even tackled the logistical issues around this type of enterprise. I’m currently looking for a location in London from which to run our kitchen. It needs to be centrally located because we could be serving customers across the city, but finding premises that fits with our budget is difficult.

How did you find out about the Meet a Mentor event?
I’ve not been mentored before but my business partner, Damien Marty, explained how it might be of interest and so we registered me online through the Mentorsme portal.

What did you want to get out of the day? And what do you believe a mentor can do for you?
The day was an opportunity to share my idea with people who are experienced and knowledgeable. I wanted to gain more self confidence and I think the fact that I was required to pitch the business to others helped with that. It was also important that I worked with a mentor or mentors who understood those challenges that are faced in the very early stages and the problems of registering a business and getting tax and financial issues straightened out.

If you met with a mentor, who are they and what do you think makes them a suitable mentor for you?
Since the Meet a Mentor event I’ve kept in contact with two mentors: one is a business legal advisor and the other owns her own book-keeping company. They have already helped me to find the answers to some of my questions.

Have you met with them since the Meet a Mentor event? If so, how has your relationship developed and what progress have you made?
I’m continuing to work with both mentors actually. I’ve now developed an action plan and have scheduled in monthly appointments with them. I’m only one session in, but I already feel like things are moving forward.

Would you recommend that other entrepreneurs in your situation attend a mentor event and get the help of an experienced business person?
Yes, I think it is a good way for entrepreneurs to progress. There is a lot they can learn from those who have more experience than them.

Mentee Case Study: Anna Zachariassen

natalieparker — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:19:28 +0000

Anna, tell us about your business?
Thrive Media is geared towards helping online businesses raise their profile and boost online visibility. We’re a young and ambitious PR agency using developing technologies to help our customers achieve success. After 10 years working in Government communications I wanted to share the skills and experience I’d developed with start-ups and entrepreneurs to support their long-term business goals. It was also a new challenge for me; an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and work directly with business owners.

How did you come across Get Mentoring’s Meet a Mentor event?
I heard about the Women Unlimited conference through a marketing email I received. It seemed to be a great way to make new contacts and meet like-minded female business owners at different stages of their careers, with a range of experiences to share. It turned out to be a truly inspirational day – the speakers were absolutely fantastic and I made some useful new contacts, as I’d hoped. Get Mentoring were running their Meet a Mentor event as a breakfast networking session, which I thought was a relaxed and effective way of encouraging introductions between enterprise mentors and small business owners.

As with many small business owners I’m in a position where I’m managing every aspect of the business – whether it’s sourcing new clients, delivering services, keeping accounts or managing temperamental IT systems. The idea of having an experienced professional who’s been there and done it to ask the right questions and provide a bit of extra support really appealed to me.

Did you meet a mentor at the event?
Yes, I met an entrepreneur and business owner with a marketing background called Simon Atkins. I haven’t had any previous experience of being mentored but I really felt I could benefit from having a critical friend and a sounding board; someone whose advice and input I would quickly learn to trust and respect. I think Simon fits that bill and I’m already excited about how his influence might enable me to grow my business.

How have things progressed with Simon since the Meet a Mentor event?
Simon and I have had one two-hour face-to-face meeting and two productive phone calls. We’ve also exchanged numerous emails so I think things are developing well. With Simon’s assistance I have already tailored my services to online companies and we’ve looked in more detail about how I might build the trust necessary for successful long-term relationships with clients.

Would you recommend that other businesses seek the support of a mentor? Why?

Absolutely! There’s no substitute for the kind of wisdom and experience that a mentor can offer. For anybody starting out in business or fighting with all of the different roles and responsibilities that come with a small enterprise, lacking confidence in making decisions or wasting time trying things that don’t prove to be useful can be problematic. Finding the right answers and solutions with the help of a mentor can make a business like mine all the more efficient . . . and rewarding.

What’s next for Thrive Media? Where do your ambitions lie and do you think mentoring has a role to play?
I’m keen to expand Thrive’s client base and carve out a niche for delivering targeted online content that supports the aims and objectives of online businesses. I’d also like to be in a position to take on a member of staff later this year so I can concentrate on sourcing new business and delivering seminars. I’m confident that my mentor will continue to play a valuable role throughout all of this activity and look forward to see the results of our joint efforts.

Simon, could you tell me a little about your career background and how you came to mentoring?
I have two roles: one as a business development director at the TGS Group , a management consultancy company; and I am also the director of The Small Business Hub , which offers a variety of services to help business owners growing new businesses. Like most mentors I’ve met, I’ve been mentoring unofficially for quite some time and completing the Get Mentoring training felt like a natural progression for me.

How would you describe your mentoring relationship with Anna and what have your first impressions of her business been?
Our relationship is based around helping Anna to become the best she can be. She’s really smart, very focused and incredibly capable. I have absolutely no doubt she’ll accomplish great things. Her business is a great idea – well thought out and planned. I specialise in helping business owners become partners with CEOs, managing directors and other company owners, so I have the experience to help Anna do the same.

How has the experience been for you? Has it encouraged you to work with other mentees in the future?
It’s been a very positive experience because Anna is both fully committed and proactive in what she’s doing. In the future, my work with Anna will be dictated by her needs and how much support she feels she needs. I am certainly happy to keep working with her as and when she needs me, and I’d be interested in mentoring other entrepreneurs as well.

What is it about mentoring that you enjoy?
I enjoy the fact that I can make a difference for other people. Seeing them happy and moving forward in their work-life with confidence is fulfilling for me. I was mentored early in my own career and I saw that if you want to accomplish great things you often need a mentor. That’s why I believe it is important that initiatives such as Get Mentoring are working to connect people and build business relationships.

Gifford Sutherland Case Study

natalieparker — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:55:30 +0000

There aren’t many Get Mentoring mentors who can count statutory service providers, social entrepreneurs and youth offenders among their list of mentees. But as director and founder of young offender behavioural service and consultancy Foundation4Life, Gifford Sutherland’s career path has brought him into contact with mentoring in a variety of ways.

Foundation4Life’s mission is to deter young people from crime through empowerment and changing the attitudes that lead to anti-social behaviour. Aiding ex-offenders in their rehabilitation and reintegrating them into society, Gifford finds himself mentoring both convicted young criminals, those who work with offenders (including reformed gang leaders) and the directors of organisations who run this type of programme. All of which is a long way from the path Gifford chose in his early career. As a graduate, he worked in media and telecommunications for large organisations such as the Daily Mail and Auto Trader. But it wasn’t until he was made redundant from his role as Business Development Director that he teamed up with his future co-founder Denzle Howell to work as co-ordinators on the Coldingley Crime Diversion Scheme. This experience convinced them that ex-offenders and reformed gang leaders were the most credible candidates to help change the way their peers behaved. Turning this concept into a viable business model wasn’t easy, however. Gifford says,

“We first piloted the concept for our business in 2006 but it was 18 months before we were able to launch Foundation4Life properly because we had to work past the initial resistance and scepticism towards our unique style of intervention support service. We knew from our experience that the most credible figures to get young offenders on to the straight and narrow were their peers; gang leaders and reformed criminals who could share their experiences and act as positive role models for those trapped in gang culture. In fact there are many similarities between this type of peer mentoring and volunteer business mentoring. The focus is always on providing a support network that allows individuals to make their own decisions, empowering them to make positive changes. It’s not about telling them how to lead their lives.”

Six years later and Foundation4Life has branched out into a number of different disciplines relating to youth crime prevention, early intervention and behavioural consultancy work: running workshops, lectures, one-on-one sessions and peer mentoring. Although he found his own transition from the private sector to be far from easy, he says that he had two or three key mentors whose support during the early stages of Foundation4Life allowed his business to flourish in a much shorter period than would otherwise have been possible:

“I knew that, although my private sector experience provided me with some of the necessary processes and models for running a business, that experience just didn’t cut it when it came to the youth sector and social care. It’s a very different type of industry and we could have found ourselves making a huge number of mistakes. I knew it was important to ally myself with people who I could learn from and develop a mentoring relationship with. One of these was a senior practitioner from the London Probation Services; her insight was invaluable in deciding how to position ourselves in the market and how to present ourselves to the organisations and institutions we would have to work alongside.”

The success of Foundation4Life and its innovative approach to social enterprise soon brought Gifford into contact with other fledgling businesses looking for a mentor themselves. He says,

“When we started out it was difficult to get a foothold in the market and we had to think creatively about how to win contracts. Over time we learnt how to develop partnerships with bigger organisations, piggy back on other initiatives and achieve success in a number of different ways. Now there are a number of enterprises out there in that same position and I find them looking to me for help. I heard about the Get Mentoring scheme through BTEG (the Black Training and Enterprise Group) and thought it was a great opportunity to help me improve the way I interact with these businesses.”

Now entering their second phase of growth and developing a new five year plan, Gifford suggests that the mentoring skills he’s developed over the years – and refined through the Get Mentoring scheme – complement his move into a broader consultancy role. With a growing number of opportunities for social enterprises through statutory provisions and the Youth Justice Board, Gifford expects to do more mentoring in a formal capacity as part of Foundation4Life’s consultancy work. But asked whether this means his opportunities to volunteer mentor are becoming limited, Gifford says,

“I don’t think I ever want to give up the volunteering side of things. For every organisation that can afford to pay for my time there are several small community organisations with great potential but no funds. It’s important to me that I give some time freely, whether it’s mentoring those who are delivering front-line services to young offenders or directly with young men and women who need support to get them on their chosen career path. I’ve been working with the team at Southwark for several months now trying to get people out of the offending cycle and it is a hugely rewarding experience. ”

Mehmood Khan Mentee Case Study

natalieparker — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:12:49 +0000

“I don’t want to look back at 40 and say that I could have done this, or I should have done that,” is the response of entrepreneur and IT consultant Mehmood Khan when asked why he feels the time is right to launch a new business in 2013. Having worked as a freelance tech consultant for companies such as IBM over the last 12 years, Mehmood has had very little chance to focus his energy on anything else. But now, with a less hectic work schedule he feels that the time is right to get the BookBuggy project he has been working on with his wife off the ground.

An experienced businessman from Bethnal Green, Mehmood nevertheless felt that he hadn’t found quite the right focus in the early days of the enterprise and that he was in danger of becoming aimless:

“After 3 or 4 months of working on Bookbuggy there were just too many ideas and jobs to get my head around and I almost felt like I’d lost sight of what I was trying to achieve. That can be a bit disheartening when you are a pre-startup. I felt that a mentor would give the support I needed and perhaps help me to reassess where I was – and as it turned out, I was right.”

As a member of the IOEE, Mehmood looked on the mentor database to make contact with an experienced entrepreneur who could help. He says,

“I like the process of being able to use the database to build connections on their site. I wanted to work with someone who was attuned to the difficulties I was facing and who had experience of handling multiple tasks such as building a site, marketing, deciding on whether to simultaneously develop an app, liaise with suppliers, and so on. I’m sure there were plenty of volunteer mentors who would have been suited to me, but I found it quite empowering to be able to look at my mentor’s profile and their career background before approaching them.”

Mehmood’s mentor was Bob Browning, a retired IT consultant and entrepreneur himself. A few emails between the two led them to meeting up for a coffee to discuss Bookbuggy further. Mehmood says,

“Just talking to Bob I got a greater sense of clarity and structure. In fact, whenever I’ve been asked about the business by anyone, the process of explaining things always has the effect of focusing the mind. But it isn’t until someone asks that you often work through those thoughts that are running around in your head. When I met with Bob, it quickly made sense to me what I should concentrate on; what would be the core of my business and what could wait till later – like the app.

With the launch of Bookbuggy imminent, Mehmood is working hard on the build of his website and liaising with his suppliers. Asked about his aims for the future of the company, he says,

“I’m not under any illusions that I’m going to change the world, but I think we do have a business concept here that can become profitable and self-sustaining within the first year or two. I’ve got quite a few business ideas so ideally I’d like to get to a point where things are running smoothly and I can move on to the next project. But I definitely feel that mentoring has a part to play in the future of Bookbuggy and probably with my next ventures too. All I need to do now is make some headway so that I have something new to talk to Bob about when we next meet! But it’s good to have the ball in my court in this way.”

Malcolm and Pip Q&A

natalieparker — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:04:40 +0000

Pip Cartwright and Malcolm Munday were introduced to each other by Chris Leighton of the Business Skills Clinic in Norfolk back in 2011. At the time, Pip and his business partner Johannes Ahrenfelt were preparing to introduce a new and innovative product into the market but felt they needed an analytical eye to help them make the most of their commercial opportunity. We spoke to both Pip and Malcolm this month to find out how their mentor–mentee relationship worked in the early stages for the start-up, and how it continues to prove beneficial now that the enterprise has found its feet.

Pip, tell us about your business?
Pip: Johannes Ahrenfelt and I launched 99SQUARED in autumn 2011. Our first product was called SQUARE:CODE, which is a dynamic QR Code service allowing people to control what consumers see when a code is scanned, schedule changes and monitor the number of scans.

Our experience with SQUARE:CODE led to the development of a second product called KUOOB, which is launching at the moment. KUOOB turns conventional online advertising on its head. Current systems guess what consumers are interested in by monitoring their Internet activity and then push adverts to their screen, regardless of whether the consumer's in the mood to look at them. KUOOB asks consumers what they are interested in and consumers choose when they would like to look at the adverts. Our target markets include complimentary digital content for printed media and shopping centres.

Why did you decide to set up the business?
Pip: Our backgrounds were in promoting ICT and e-learning in the education sector. By 2010 it became clear that mobile technology was the next big thing and that there were ways we could make it easier for people to find the information there were looking for, especially since the keyboards on mobile devices are very small. Making QR Codes more powerful was clearly one of the needs in this area.

Why did you decide to get the help of a mentor?
Pip: Our background in the public sector meant that while we had lots of ideas for good products, we needed help with approaching these in a commercial manner. We needed someone who could really get to know our business and its challenges and talk through the best approach to them.

How has that relationship developed from your perspective?
Pip: Malcolm Munday has mentored us from before the business officially launched. In our first session we explained all our different ideas and how they worked together. He was able to identify the absolute core of our business and encouraged us to focus on this alone. This then became the foundation for all our subsequent work.

We have met with Malcolm routinely and he has been extremely generous with his time. He is also happy to take phone calls when we have a particular issue we need to discuss urgently.

Would you recommend that other businesses seek the support of a mentor? Why?
Pip: I think mentoring is essential unless people are incredibly experienced in their field before starting the business. It's not just a matter of knowing the nuts and bolts of business, but also having the opportunity to discuss ideas and philosophy, in order to understand the fundamentals of the business.

How is the mentor/mentee relationship different than say, a business advisor?
Pip: As the title suggests, an advisor tends to listen to a problem and then offer a solution. Our mentor helps us to find the solutions ourselves. This helps to develop the kind of critical thinking which can then be applied when he is not with us.

Do you think having a mentor has made a difference to the success of your business?
Pip: I think we would have found the whole experience of starting a business far tougher without the practical and moral support of our mentor.

Is there one specific thing that it's changed for you? Is there something you've done because you've had a mentor that you wouldn't have done otherwise?
Pip: We would probably have attempted to be making and selling physical goods rather than online software had our mentor not helped us understand what the absolute core of our business was from the outset.

What next for your business? What are you ambitions for the business?
Pip: Our ambition is for KUOOB to be a worldwide system which businesses use for on-line advertising, especially in the mobile space.

What part will mentoring play in the future of your business?
Pip: Although we are well beyond the initial few sessions that Malcolm had committed to, we hope he will always be part of our business and look forward to many more interesting and valuable conversations.

Mentor

Malcolm, could you tell me a little about your career background?
Malcolm: I’ve spent my career in engineering and manufacturing. Starting out on the shop floor in hands-on roles I progressed through to management and then on to business ownership. I’m now in the latter phase of my business life and my objectives have changed somewhat. I feel that assisting others to achieve their goals is the kind of challenge that I enjoy now, whether it’s encouraging, developing or supporting new and established businesses on specific or more general matters.

How would you describe your mentoring relationship with Pip?
Malcolm: Stimulating, challenging, rewarding, open, honest and demonstrably effective. Our meetings take the form of me doing a lot of listening, and then together we try to discover the key issues and develop an action plan that either moves the business forward or brings clarity of thought and focus.

What were your first thoughts about Pip’s business? What did you see that you thought you might be able to help with?
Malcolm: Pip and Johannes are very creative people and their concept was innovative, but we found that the application was too narrow. Initially my role was to broaden the viewpoint of their business and then help them bring focus to the important elements that made them unique, and how they could deliver revenue and profit. Therefore, business structure/strategy, organisation, product development, sales management and direction are the relevant areas of my involvement.

How has the experience been for you?
Malcolm: Pip and Johannes are good company and the whole process has been most enjoyable. I find the experience most invigorating and refreshing. Watching their growth and development is very satisfying and makes the effort worthwhile.

More opportunities to Meet a Mentor

natalieparker — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:13:23 +0000

With two half-day sessions in London under our belts, the Get Mentoring team are now rolling out Meet a Mentor networking events across the country with dates confirmed in some of the UK’s major cities. Demand has been so high that the event in Birmingham is already full and, while other places are filling up fast, mentors and business owners can still apply for spaces at the Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle sessions.

If you know of any start-ups or growing businesses from the micro, small or medium enterprise community who might be looking for mentor support, why not let them know about it by clicking here. Alternatively you can forward on this e-newsletter or retweet our updates from @Get_Mentoring.

‘Meet A Mentor’ events hit the ground running

natalieparker — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:20:00 +0000

Mentors and business owners connected right, left and centre at the inaugural Meet a Mentor events in London this month run by SFEDI, the organisation behind Get Mentoring. In the two half-day sessions attendees were informed and inspired about the role mentoring can play in supporting new and growing businesses and were given the opportunity to make a number of connections during the speed mentoring sessions.

With demand for the events high, you may have seen that we have arranged more dates over the coming weeks. And we’ll be applying some of the valuable feedback from these first sessions to make the next events even more productive for those involved. Here are just a few of the comments we received:

“Thanks for organising a great event. Just turning up was motivating!”
“A huge thank you to the organisers – I found the entire event useful, encouraging and inspiring”
“I particularly enjoyed meeting the Get Mentoring team – a great bunch of enthusiastic people!”

Feedback also suggested longer events offering more time for making connections (“There were so many interesting people to meet”), clearer badges so it was easier to find mentors and mentees during the networking sessions, and making the events a regular feature. We are fine tuning the next few events in the diary based on all of the feedback received to make it even easier for delegates to make mentoring connections in the upcoming events.

On behalf of SFEDI, we’d like to thank everyone who attended. If you have started working with a mentor and want to share your story, get in touch with Natalie Richardson

If you are interested in finding a mentor and have yet to attend a Meet a Mentor event, we have a few spaces left for the upcoming events in Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle. Sign up here.

Mentoring with a Twist

natalieparker — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:02:29 +0000

Twists Pasta Bar in Huddersfield city centre offers a healthy alternative to your average fast food establishment. Set up by entrepreneurs Jeffrey Postlethwaite and Adam Thompson in September 2011, the business was recently featured on BBC Three’s Be Your Own Boss programme. We caught up with them and the mentor, Janet Marshall, who they met at the first 'Meet A Mentor' style event SFEDI organised at the MADE Festival last year with Intuit 100Up, to find out more about the benefits of their relationship. Janet is a business professional with extensive experience in both senior management and as a small business owner.

Jeffrey and Adam, how do you know each other and why did you decide to start a business together?
Jeffrey: We met in our first year at university. I was studying Enterprise Development and Adam’s degree is in Business Management.
Adam: I took three years out before uni, working as a sports centre manager, and I ran a couple of eBay businesses during that time too. Jeff's background is similar and we’ve always considered ourselves to be very entrepreneurial.
Jeffrey: While studying for our degrees we successfully tested Twists Pasta Bar over a three month period after spotting a gap in the market for a healthier style of fast food business. We were taking what we were learning in our university lectures and applying it straight to a real life business.
Adam: After proving there was a market for our idea we decided to open a store in Huddersfield city centre. But our ultimate dream is to have a store in every town/city across the country, helping people eating on the move to stay healthy.

What help did you receive for your business?
Jeffrey: We won a couple of business competitions and had access to three business mentors as a result of that including Huddersfield University Vice Chancellor, Bob Cryan.

You came to the Meet A Mentor event at MADE for members of the Intuit 100Up to meet Get Mentoring volunteers? What interested you in finding a mentor at that event?

Adam: We've always valued meeting lots of different people with different areas of expertise and therefore it seemed like a good opportunity for us. Networking has been something that's helped our business right from the start. When we met our current mentor, Janet, at the event it was really good to find out about her PR background as we hadn't had experience in that area before. She seemed like a useful mentor for so many reasons – her list of contacts, for one, but also her writing expertise and experience in running her own business too.

How has that relationship developed with Janet since?
Jeffrey: Mentoring is useless if you don't keep in contact with the mentor. We believe that everyone can help us; every idea is a good idea. After the event we arranged to meet Janet for a coffee, she highlighted where her expertise was and, as the opening of the new shop was pending, we knew she'd be invaluable. She helped us put together a press release and came to the opening too.

Should businesses seek the support of a mentor?

Adam: Yes, definitely. It's so important because mentors have “been there and done that”. You can learn so much from their expertise and experience, and their pitfalls and successes. It's not only the mentor either, it's their contacts that can help too. Without the contacts we wouldn't be where we are today.

Do you think having a mentor has made a difference to the success of your business?
Jeffrey: I think we could have done it, but having mentors has made it a million times easier. It would have taken twice as long, been twice as expensive and twice as stressful to do it on our own.

Is there one specific thing that it's changed for you? Is there something you've done because you've had a mentor that you wouldn't have done otherwise?
Adam: There’s not one thing that sticks out. Perhaps the contacts and the networking has been the main benefit to us.

What next for your business? What are your ambitions for the business?
Jeffrey: Since being on Be Your Own Boss we're looking to open up a couple more shops across the country and build franchises up. Our business is about helping people with their health and fitness. We believe our food provides a healthy and tasty alternative to what's out there.

What part will mentoring play in the future of your business?
Adam: I believe our mentors have the expertise to help us accelerate the business at each important stage in the future. They are a very influential part of our business.

Janet, how would you describe your mentoring relationship with Jeffrey and Adam?
Janet: I've been very lucky as a mentor, Adam and Jeffrey are so motivated and capable. I admire them for that, not least because they are still working towards their finals at university. They’ve both been extremely open to suggestions, ready to listen and discuss things. I’ve found that they are very good at asking for help when they need it.

Why did you decide to do the Get Mentoring training and volunteer as a mentor?
Janet: It's something I've always done, informally, as I've managed people in my own career. It's happened that I've ended up mentoring people, just steering them generally. When I came across the Get Mentoring scheme I thought it would be great to formalise it as a skill and maybe expand it.

What do you think mentors get out of mentoring?
Janet: Mentoring is a fantastic thing to add to your CV, and it's a heck of a lot of fun too. It's great to step back and remember what it's like just starting out, and getting involved in a young business can be amazingly exciting for a mentor.

Tripti Gyan Case Study

natalieparker — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:30:09 +0000

With 14 years’ experience of working in both the NHS and in private practice, Tripti Gyan from Nottingham took the plunge and set up her own private practice, TG Physiotherapy Care, when she was made redundant in 2009. With a full complement of clients wanting to benefit from her expertise and the offer of a treatment room at the local YMCA gym, Tripti was soon up and running. Four years down the line and Tripti’s business has gone from strength to strength, but she admits that there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way:

“When I was made redundant I was primarily a clinician, not an entrepreneur. However, I was fortunate enough to have been nurtured and guided by four highly experienced mentors from varying backgrounds as I began to set up my practice. They all encouraged me to lay a solid foundation for my business and to always look forward at the bigger picture when making decisions. I can safely say that the hard work in the early days has paid off immensely.”

Focused on the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries Tripti’s line of work clearly demands a hands-on approach, but she also wanted to get stuck in to something different outside of the practice. Although not Tripti’s first experience of mentoring – having previously worked with physiotherapy students and newly-qualified graduates – she knew that the Introduction to Enterprise Mentoring course in London was something she wanted to take part in when she came across it:

“I learnt a great deal from all my mentors over the past four years and with their help, made many good personal and professional decisions. Don't get me wrong, I've made mistakes as well, but thankfully I’ve made sound judgements too. I decided to train as a mentor to share my experiences, both as an established health care professional and as a businesswoman, with those who would like to follow suit. I feel that I would be paying forward the wisdom I have gleaned from those who have travelled the path before me.”

She suggests that with the changing nature of the healthcare industry and the demand for more medical professionals to act in an entrepreneurial fashion – sometimes a controversial issue – her insight and experience could prove valuable for new clinicians coming through into the business world. But that doesn’t mean Tripti plans to limit her mentoring to enterprises based around the medical profession. She says,

“I am keeping an open mind as to the type of business I’d like to mentor. Working with someone from a different professional background would be good for me. And hopefully it will provide the mentee with a different, perhaps fresher, perspective. All of my own mentors were from a non-physio background and their insight proved to be invaluable. I’d like to think I could do the same in reverse for a mentee.”

Despite a hectic schedule with her own practice over the coming months, Tripti says she is looking forward to meeting her first mentee, and she plans to get in touch with one of her local mentoring organisations at the earliest opportunity.