Liz Hall
Some 1,000 staff from the UK’s five largest high street banks are to mentor small businesses (SMEs) on a voluntary basis.
The scheme has been launched by the British Banking Association (BBA) to support SMEs on financial, marketing and HR issues.
Already, more than 230 current and retired employees from Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds and Santander have been recruited. The target is to reach 1,000 over the next 12 months.
The mentors will be trained by the independent UK Skills Sector Body for Enterprise and Business Support.
From 4 July, businesses are also able to find assistance through a new online portal, www.mentorsme.co.uk. This brings together leading mentoring organisations and allows companies to search for and locate their local group. It also includes a section to recruit would be mentors and a range of helpful resources.
The bank mentors will join a wider pool of mentors sourced from other organisations and charities. The government hopes that these advisors will replace the support currently offered by Business Link centres, which are earmarked for closure this autumn.
UK business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk said he envisaged that the “more informal” network would eventually total 40,000 mentors. He said:
“From my own experiences running a small business I know how valuable insight can be from people who have done it all before.
“Small business owners have repeatedly told us that the support they value most comes from other experienced business people. For the first time in the UK, there will be a single, cohesive network of mentoring provision.
“Small firms are lifeblood of our economy and we are determined to give them every opportunity to succeed and secure the long-term growth we need.”
Angela Knight, chief executive of the BBA said:
“We recognise it is often a lonely place to be for a business when stepping out on their own for the first time or running their existing business day to day. That’s when a mentor can help. Whilst many of the staff we are placing are experienced in finance, we are also recruiting from across different departments, so that we add to the wealth of skills and knowledge available to organisations.
A series of finance masterclasses are also being rolled out to train non-bank mentors within established mentoring organizations, giving them a broad base of knowledge on bank lending and alternative sources of finance.
The launch forms part of the Better Business Finance campaign, set up by the Business Finance Taskforce.