Business mentorship: test-driving your dreams before living it.

In every facet of life, there are mentors, people who have been down the road of a desired path and can provide familiar insight into what is to be expected and ways of overcoming otherwise unforeseeable challenges. Mentorship is defined as a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps in guiding  the less knowledgeable one who is usually known as a protégé (protégée), mentee or apprentice. 

Example- Mentor and mentee working together

The business world is no different, it is wise and best practise for a start-up entrepreneurs to have mentors who can act as guide and back-up persons if need be. It would not be out of place for an entrepreneur to spend some time working with, learning the ropes and norms of the industry before delving into desired projects. 

The mentors may be professionals in relevant fields or entrepreneurs who have created successful business(es) as the case may be and who are willing to help nurture the appetite for growth in the business of respective protege(e). Mentors must be passionate about the sector and be able to dedicate time to serve protegees. They should be willing to offer practical advice on how a business can grow. When picking a business mentor, it is best to check his/her portfolio out for work done in the past and access how relevant their skills are to what one is projecting.

Benefits of business mentorship

Some of the benefits of business mentorship are-

·        Help improve decision making process of an entrepreneur: a good business mentor should help mentees/proteges or apprentices in improving decision making, while the bulk of the decision making lies with the mentee, the mentor can give insights which will serve as guidelines when decision making is  involved. 

·        Improvement of business planning: Abstract planning for a start-up business owner might hurt the business one way or the other, a mentor however, should be able to point out some "do's" and "don'ts" in business planning. Which in turn reduces reduces risks or help entrepreneur in understanding the risk involved in the business

·        Confidence building and improvement:  Every start-up entrepreneur at some point is bound to lose confidence in his/her plan especially those with big plans.  Mentors, by giving them the opportunity to learn, contribute or even putting them in the line of serious business decisions, transactions whenever the need arises can help in improving the confidence of mentees. Helping them to believe in themselves and their skills in sustaining the business.

·        Enhance better financial management of business: finance is one of the key part of growth in business, a business that manages its finances well is likely to grow. Business mentors can help entrepreneurs see areas they need to spend on and those they can avoid or improvise in, thereby saving cost for the business. Mentors might also have links to financial advisers who are trained to provide adequate financial advice and strategies for business owners.

·        Identify new markets: Mentors can help mentees identify new markets, their trends and skills required to survive in business either through experience of similar trends in time past or from careful forecasting of possibilities to occur.

·        Encourage better communication skills: Communication skills are diverse be they upward, downward, interpersonal,verbal,written or even body language, the list is endless. Mentors can help encourage, improve, give feedback on communication skills of mentees as it affects business and expected outcome in the business terrain. Communication whether internally or externally can make or mar a business. How well to relate to customers in business, interpretations of statements, words and body language are part of what a mentor can put an entrepreneur through.

Help avoid common avoidable mistakes from being made: Common mistakes made by start-up entrepreneurs should  be shared to mentees to avoid a repetition of such in their business. Mentees should be encouraged to make their  share of mistakes during their tutelage in order to build their practical knowledge without adverse risk to their business 

One of the objectives of EntrepreneursLounge is to connect professionals and entrepreneurs from all sectors to start-up, less experienced entrepreneurs who are willing to learn and engage their given mentors. The mentors will serve as hands-on consultants, guide and sounding boards to these entrepreneurs. Partnership with private business institutions, individual entrepreneurs and government parastatals to provide adequate mentorship for interested entrepreneurs. 

There are several mentorship programs many part of the world. Pivotplanet.com, micromentor.com, www.score.org and many other sites provide mentor services for those interested in business.For entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Entrepreneurslounge in partnership with office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job-creation on a business mentorship program. Details coming soon.