Merseyside Needs Mentors!
St Helens Chamber is looking for voluntary mentors from the St Helens and Knowsley business communities to help support of local people in the early stages of starting a business.
Who would make an ideal mentor?
We are looking for friendly, committed business people who can give up a small amount of their time to support people who have a great business idea that needs unlocking and developing. The role is potentially very rewarding and will make a huge difference to the local economy.
What will you do as a Mentor?
As a volunteer Mentor you will meet with people in the early stages of starting a business to provide encouragement and guidance about their business idea and help them to develop a business plan. This will amount to around an hour of your time a week in the couple of months to shape the idea and explore whether any money can be made from it.
After your mentee starts up you will spend just 1-2 hours with them per month (for up to 6 months) to help them make good business decisions to ensure that the business survives and flourishes.
Who are we trying to help and what do they need?
Your mentee will have some experience and skills but may lack the confidence to know what to do next. Above all they need someone to give them guidance about how to get started on the journey into self employment and encourage them along the way
The role of the Chambers
The Chambers of Commerce in Merseyside manage the mentoring process and will provide you with tall the training and information you need to be a volunteer mentor.
The Chambers will pre-screen people before you meet with them to ensure that they have a reasonable business idea in place and are committed to taking it forward.
Success so far
Across Merseyside there are already over 200 volunteer mentors – but we need more! Demand for our support is high and we meet with approximately 50 potential new business owners a month. So far we have supported over 600 people to start a business across Merseyside.
Nick Buxton is Managing Director of P&R Labpack, a supplier and distributor of laboratory supplies, based in St Helens.
“My local Chamber told me about the New Enterprise Allowance Scheme and I volunteered to become a mentor. I found it a steep learning curve to begin with but it’s been a really useful experience for me too as a business owner. I’ve been working with a client who has successfully started his own joinery business and things are progressing very well.”
Lyndsey van Westerhuizen is Managing Director of accountancy development, training and support providers TQS Solutions.
"From initial discovery of my mentees ideas, helping him to develop these into a structured plan and seeing how passionate he has become about his business is extremely rewarding.”
For more information please contact St Helens Chamber on 01744 742003 or email ann.holcroft@sthelenschamber.com