Mentoring Empowers Entrepreneurs and Grows Business

Have you thought about being a mentor to an aspiring entrepreneur?

As a successful business owner, you are in a great position to mentor others. You learned from the school of hard knocks and overcame many hurdles on your path to success. Along the way, you developed your network. Mentoring others allows you to share your knowledge and circle of influence to help an entrepreneur build a business. Mentors do make a difference.

MicroMentor 2019 Impact Study

Recently MicroMentor released its 2019 Impact Study. MicroMentor is an initiative of Mercy Corps, a non-profit, humanitarian agency. MicroMentor’s mission is to help small businesses grow faster and employ more people by making it easy to be a mentor, find a mentor and build a business.

The 2019 Impact Study reported that Entrepreneurs who receive Mentorship experience better business outcomes, develop skills, and gain increased access to business-boosting resources like professional networks, financial services, and export markets.

New businesses, less than one year in business, are 10% more likely to survive with a Mentor and established businesses, two or more years in business, are 4% more likely to survive with a Mentor.

Entrepreneurs requested Mentors with expertise in management, marketing, starting up, accounting and finance, and sales. Entrepreneurs reported an increase in business skills like managing financial assets, financial record keeping, marketing and advertising, estimating needed startup funds, delegating, and more.

Entrepreneurs learn to build resilient and successful businesses and existing businesses grow. Twenty-one percent of mentored Entrepreneurs experienced a positive change in revenue. On average, one new job was added to the economy and 32% more jobs were retained by mentored Entrepreneurs.

How can you become a business mentor?

You may already have individuals contacting you for advice on how to build their business. This is a great place to start. You can also volunteer as a SCORE Mentor or through your local Small Business Development Center.

The best mentors ask excellent questions that help diagnose problems and identify areas for improvement. The answers can help you and the aspiring entrepreneur put together a game plan for forward progress. The Harvard Business Review article “Five Questions Every Mentor Must Ask,” by Anthony K. Tjan is a great place to start.

Do one thing: Consider volunteering as a business mentor.

Thanks for reading.