New National Business Mentoring Council launches to support growth of UK businesses
New Council brings together private sector, academia and civil society to enhance business mentoring across the UK
Business mentoring is widely recognised as a vital resource for entrepreneurs and business leaders. Recent research has shown that 8 out of 10 SME leaders credit mentoring as playing a vital part in their growth; and 7 out of 10 view it as a resource crucial to their resilience, well being and business’s survival .
Despite this, many businesses continue to face challenges accessing high-quality business mentoring support and consistently cite the difficulty in knowing where to go and finding the right qualified mentors to support them.
To address these needs and issues, leading firms from across the UK responsible for mentoring standards and accredited mentoring services have come together to form a new National Business Mentoring Council, supported by government and referenced within its Small Business Plan.
The new National Business Mentoring Council, is a major new partnership aimed at enhancing the quality and accessibility of business mentoring to help drive growth of businesses across the United Kingdom.
The Council brings together senior representatives from across regions and nations involved in business mentoring, finance, entrepreneurship and academia. Its mission is to reduce sector fragmentation, strengthen professional pathways for mentors, share data and industry trends, and promote the benefits of and access to mentoring for SMEs, startups, and scaling firms. The Council will also support government strategies that foster business growth and resilience.
At the Council’s inaugural meeting held in the Department for Business and Trade and co-chaired by the Association of Business Mentors and ScaleUp Institute plans were discussed for National Mentoring Day on 27 October which will serve as a platform to promote the impact of mentoring; the access to mentoring options and mentoring success stories from across the UK. The Council further discussed practical solutions on how to better coordinate activity across the mentoring ecosystem, reduce fragmentation and better support underserved communities and regions which will be a focus for it in coming months.
Gareth Thomas MP, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Business and Trade, said: “Having a mentor can be a game-changer for small businesses, so I welcome the creation of this new council who will make it easier for business leaders to find a high-quality mentor they can trust.
“This forms part of the government’s Plan for Small Businesses, the most comprehensive package of support for smaller businesses in a generation, helping to deliver the Plan for Change.”
Irene Graham OBE, co-chair of the National Business Mentoring Council and CEO of the ScaleUp Institute, commented: “Mentoring is a proven source of support in business scaling up but for business leaders too often it remains difficult to navigate where good mentors are available. The Council’s aim, working with experts across the UK, is to address these challenges and foster greater collaboration between mentoring groups and easier access to proven quality mentorship so that no matter where a business is in the UK there is an easier pathway to find the mentor to suit their needs and support their business journey.”
Georgina Waite, co-chair of the National Business Mentoring Council and CEO of the Association of Business Mentors, said: “Mentoring plays a pivotal role in empowering business leaders, helping them to navigate challenges and unlock growth opportunities. By uniting the sector’s collective expertise through the Council, we can make high quality mentorship more accessible to businesses nationwide, helping ensure that they get the support they need to start, scale and thrive.”
Sarah Trouten, CEO of the IOEE, added: “The IOEE is proud to be a founding member of the National Business Mentoring Council, an essential new initiative set to significantly enhance the quality and accessibility of business mentoring across the United Kingdom. We firmly believe that through this collaborative effort we can profoundly impact the growth, resilience, and overall success of businesses, from startups to scaleups.”