Bizstartup.ie - Start Up Kit

Starting a business comes with mixed emotions – the adrenalin rush, the sense of satisfaction of taking control of your own destiny but also the feeling of being pulled in lots of different directions at once. This is the experience of many entrepreneurs at the start-up stage and a time when they can benefit from the services of a mentor.

The role of a mentor is to listen to the client, get to know the client’s business and then provide customised and expert support and guidance to help the entrepreneur identify and overcome the challenges they may face as they launch and develop their business. The mentor works with the client on both a practical and strategic level, helping them deal with immediate challenges and then moving on to approaching their business at a more strategic level. 

Looking at things from different angles

A key role role of the mentor is to encourage the entrepreneur to consider their business from angles other than their own, to bring fresh ideas to the business and then to guide the entrepreneur in developing these ideas into a coherent and tangible business plan to drive their business forward.

Mentors are experienced business professionals coming from various backgrounds and providing general business support or specialising in marketing/emarketing, finance or human resources.  A client will request a mentor with a background matching their particular needs.

The areas a mentor covers depends on the specialisim of the mentor and the needs of each client. For example a marketing mentor can cover areas such as:

• Customer profiling
• Researching new markets
• Building brands
• Targeting new customers/new markets
• E-marketing
• Traditional marketing activities including selling, networking, advertising and public relations.

The services of mentors are available privately but also at a subsidised rate from various agencies including the Enterprise Boards and Failte Ireland. The number of hours of mentoring available to a client can vary depending on the agency involved and also on the needs of the client. Meetings can take place on-site, at the agency’s offices or at neutral location such as a hotel.

Mentors are a way of quickly accessing outside expertise so that the entrepreneur can get on with giving their business the best chance of success.