Sign up to become a mentor for the government's Help to Grow: Management course

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Want to help a small business grow?

Become a voluntary mentor for the Help to Grow: Management course and commit 10 hours over 12 weeks to support businesses with their growth action plan.

You can sign up as a mentor now. You may be working as an employee, a founder, a trusted expert or an adviser, and looking to get involved in this national effort to boost small businesses' performance.

Benefits of becoming a mentor

Help a small business grow through one-to-one mentoring and support

Boost your own skills through training from the Association of Business Mentors

Join the national effort to support businesses with five or more employees

What is Help to Grow: Management?

The Help to Grow: Management Course was launched in 2021 to provide small and medium businesses with leadership support.

Each participant is matched with a voluntary mentor and Enterprise Nation is working with Newable and the Association of Business Mentors to recruit a national network of mentors and experts who will guide participants through a growth action plan.

Find out more

Read through case studies from existing mentors on the Help to Grow: Management Course and explore content to gain top tips for becoming a mentor.

Frequently asked questions

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The Help to Grow: Management Course was launched by Rishi Sunak in 2021, with the long-term target of getting 30,000 senior leaders to take part in a practical management training course.

Businesses with five or more employees can sign up to a 90% government-funded, 12-week course delivered via more than 50 business schools across the UK. The mentoring course will give eligible small firms access to free one-to-one mentoring from experienced leaders to help take their business to the next level.

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You can register to be a voluntary Help to Grow: Management mentor at www.enterprisenation.com/help-to-grow-mentor.

The mentoring officially launches on 1 August 2022.

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No. This is a voluntary programme. Benefits include the following:

  • Contributing to the growth of small businesses across the UK
  • Access to the Association of Business Mentors training offer
  • Induction and accreditation opportunities
  • Peer-to-peer mentoring support
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After registering as a mentor, you will be matched to mentees based your area of expertise e.g. if you are a marketing expert, you will be matched to mentees looking for this expertise.

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This is for you and the mentee to decide. You will be matched via the Enterprise Nation platform and can arrange through the platform to have calls or meet in person. Once your mentorship has been completed, you can mark your voluntary mentoring as complete.

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87% of mentors and mentees say that their mentoring relationships make them feel empowered to develop a more prominent sense of confidence in themselves. [Source: Moving Ahead]

Mentoring offers new skills for employees, shows that larger companies care about small business, and benefits mentors through career progression, or simply the feeling of being able to give back.

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The programme is being delivered by a partnership of Newable, Enterprise Nation and the Association of Business Mentors. Enterprise Nation is responsible for recruiting mentors and making the match between mentor and mentee.

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You must:

  • have a minimum of five years’ experience working in a small business at a senior level or equivalent experience working closely with small businesses
  • have strong leadership, management, and communications skills
  • be able to support at least one participant and provide 10 hours of one-to-one mentoring
  • possess relevant experience to support the mentees’ growth action plan
  • be willing and able to support mentees on a voluntary basis, on a remote basis and/or be willing to travel to visit them
  • be based in the UK
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As a mentor, you’re committing to delivering 10 hours of mentoring. You can deliver this in five sessions of two hours each, or one hour per week over the course of the programme.

You and the mentee can agree this together. There is also an extra time commitment of up to four hours for training and admin.

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Mentees are small business owners or an employee of a small business who is in a leadership position.

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The mentee will have a business action plan on the Enterprise Nation platform and your role will be to guide the mentee through this plan. Items and tasks can be marked as complete to show progression.

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Yes. After you have completed your first mentee engagement, you can opt to be connected to another mentee.

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Help to Grow: Management is running for two years with the option for this to extend to 2025.

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There is no requirement, or expectation, for mentors to have professional indemnity insurance. As part of the training process, mentors will be provided with a contract that they will sign and get their mentee to sign, that outlines the mentor and mentee responsibilities.

Become a mentor today

Become a mentor today and support small businesses across the UK