Business Mentoring Becoming Increasingly Popular

Media Release

Monday 4th October 2010

Business Mentoring Becoming an Increasingly Popular Option According to New Research

According to Business Mentors New Zealand, the nation’s only not-for-profit mentoring organisation, more SMEs are seeing the value in business mentoring than ever before. This is reflected in the fact that both mentoring sessions and client satisfaction with the service have hit an all time high.

‘When we measured our performance over the past year, we found that overall satisfaction has now exceeded the benchmark with a new record of 82%. On top of that, 92.4% of clients would be willing to recommend the service to others,’ BMNZ CEO, Ray Schofield said at the organisation’s AGM today (Monday 4th October). ‘This is a very positive sign as it shows that not only are we improving the quality of our service, but business owners out there are truly seeing the value in bringing a volunteer mentor on board.

‘Mentor visits have also increased significantly, with 14% of all mentors meeting with their clients on more than six different occasions,’ adds Ray. ‘We suspect that this is a strong indication that SMEs are requiring slightly more assistance during these tougher economic times. However, it also shows that business owners are recognising the benefits that can come from sitting down with someone completely separate from their business. They are completely dedicated to the process which is great to see.’

The BMNZ AGM was hosted by TOWER Insurance, a Partner Supporter of the organisation, at its offices in Auckland. The keynote speaker was new BMNZ Trustee Sir Ken Stevens.

Although BMNZ has achieved record results, Ray believes that the support of leading businesses such as TOWER and influential figures like Sir Ken are vital to improving the business mentoring service further.

‘We have had some very encouraging feedback from business owners, with many of them praising the extensive knowledge, experience and networks that their mentor brought to the table,’ says Ray. ‘However, despite being very happy with the 2009/10 results we are already looking for ways to take the mentoring service forward and identify areas for client service improvement. We are looking forward to using the information we have gained over the past 12 months to further refine our offering and are incredibly excited about assisting even more business owners over the coming year.’

Business Mentors provides access to 1,600 volunteer mentors (who provide their experience, skill and knowledge free of charge). The focus of the organisation is on developing capability, profitability, and employment generation. Since the organisation was established in 1991, Business Mentors has assisted over 53,000 small to medium businesses. It is funded largely by patrons from the private sector, with additional support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It provides a mentoring service to any businesses that are trading with evidence of accounts.

There is no limit on the amount of mentoring sessions. The term of the relationship with a mentor depends on the objectives and goals both client and mentor jointly agrees upon. They can also contact their co-ordinator at any point for further assistance

For more information on Business Mentors New Zealand, visit www.businessmentors.org.nz

ENDS

About Business Mentors NZ

Business Mentors New Zealand was established in 1991. It is funded largely by patrons from the private sector, with additional support from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It provides a free mentoring service to businesses that have been operating for at least a year and have fewer than 25 staff.

Business Mentors NZ currently has a pool of over 1,600 mentors from throughout New Zealand. Mentors are volunteers and are not paid for their time, although they are reimbursed for expenses. One-on-one mentoring offers the most practical assistance to the development and growth of the small business sector in New Zealand.

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