Enterprise minister turns to LinkedIn for mentoring tips

Ahead of the launch of the government's new business mentoring network, business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk has used professional network LinkedIn to gather feedback from entrepreneurs and other interested parties on how to encourage more mentors.

At the time of writing, 75 people had responded to Prisk's question: "How could we encourage more business people to become mentors and more businesses to benefit from an experienced business mentor?".

The feedback comes ahead of the launch of a new network of up to 40,000 business mentors which the minister recently said will launch in July. It is believed that most of the mentors will be free to access.

Among those commenting was Paul Tute from Boomerang Consultancy who said: "Mark, I know that you made your mark by getting rid of the Business Link service but we have to learn from the poor service many of us have endured and ensure we dont make the same mistakes again with mentoring.

Many clients and business people we meet would prefer to be mentored by people that have comprehensive but recent experience [and] mentors that are not specialists in just one particular area - well rounded skills required.

"Also mentoring takes time which in turn costs money. Yes mentors are usually at the top of their game but still need to pay their bills - goodwill can only spread so far - but do not make it a gravy train for former businesses that have run similar schemes badly but have the financial clout to win the contract."

Dawn Whitley, chief executive of the National Enterprise Network, added: "We are firm believers in the value of mentoring as an important contribution to a strong, vibrant and sustainable enterprise economy. Mentors can contribute to business survival, growth and expansion at all stages of the business lifecycle from start-up and can indeed help businesses which are going through periods of difficulty.

"We do believe however that mentoring is but one component in effective business support, and to be as successful as possible, mentors should be integrated into a mainstream business support organisation. This will enable specialist resources to be brought to play when necessary and can provide valuable support to mentors by way of CPD and networking."

David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, also responded. He said: "In my experience those that run/own businesses are only too willing to help others with help to grow their business (assuming non-competing). What puts them off is any feeling that they will have to become accredited or be part of some bureaucratic process. Informal networks work best. This is what the Big Society, to me, is about."

Modwenna Rees-Mogg, owner of AngelNews, commented: "I suggest you...give tax breaks to SME owners who allow smaller SMEs to sublet off them. Then the more experienced business owner can act as a mentor to the less experienced one around the water cooler. Then the mentoring is free, more relevant and more up to date than encouraging more distant forms of mentoring."