Latest news: Number of business mentors increases

The UK government has increased the number of business mentors available to budding entrepreneurs or small business owners. 08/07/2012

According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) , the government has made significant strides in promoting business mentoring over the past 12 months.

It has developed a three-pronged approach to achieve this aim: help people find a business mentor; improve information about how mentoring can help businesses grow; and increase the number of mentors available across the country.

Since the launch of online mentoring portal mentorsme.co.uk  by BIS and the British Bankers' Association (BBA) in July 2011, the number of mentoring organisations signed up with the service has more than doubled.

As a result, people now have access to 11,000 mentors, while there are more than 12,000 volunteers who have signed up with the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) - Get Mentoring  initiative and are being encouraged to join mentorsme.co.uk.

The government’s aim is to have a network of 26,000 mentors by September 2012.

Mark Prisk, business and enterprise minister, commented, ‘A year ago, we pledged to encourage more people to use a business mentor and to increase the supply of volunteer mentors recruited from the business community, which we have achieved.

‘There is still much work to be done, and we have aspirations to recruit and train thousands more business mentors who can help companies grow and boost the UK economy.’