Companies dying of embarrassment warns mentor volunteers
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are literally dying of embarrassment in New Zealand because they are ashamed of seeking help just when they need it most, warns Ray Schofield, CEO of Business Mentors New Zealand, the only national, volunteer business mentoring organisation.
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Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are literally dying of embarrassment in New Zealand because they are ashamed of seeking help just when they need it most, warns Ray Schofield, CEO of Business Mentors New Zealand, the only national, volunteer business mentoring organisation.
Schofield says that many SMEs run into trouble early in their development but won’t ask for the help that could see them through a rough patch.
He explains: `There are lots of challenges in those first few months and early years of setting up a business but the New Zealand stoical attitude means that many struggling enterprises fail to seek help in time. The double whammy at 18 months when provisional tax really kicks in is often the final straw. But if only owner operators got themselves a business mentor earlier, more of them would survive. Our volunteer mentors, who provide a free service for up to two years, often arrive just in the nick of time.’
Business Mentors Patron Partner, Statistics New Zealand: NZ Business Demography Statistics for 2012 reports that there were only 40,690 new enterprises set up in New Zealand, a fall of 11.2 per cent on the previous year. This was the lowest birth rate since comparable data was first collected in 2000 and the third year in a row that more businesses have closed than opened. There were 469,120 enterprises in total, down by 0.8 per cent on the previous year.
Lisa Ford, Business Mentors national agency manager, told a meeting of volunteer mentors hosted by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development at North Harbour Stadium this week: `Time after time our coordinators tell us they call up a new company owner to arrange mentoring only to find that they know nothing about it. That’s because their partner has called us in because they can see the business is struggling. They are simply too ashamed to ask for help themselves, yet some of the most successful companies in the country have got where they are today with the help of a business mentor. It’s something they really should be proud of doing. None of us knows everything and it’s the smart guys who know when to pull in an expert advisor.’
Business ‘deaths’ have outnumbered ‘births’ for the past three years meaning the total number of enterprises has been falling since 2009 with 30,000 fewer businesses set up last year than in 2004. Mentors report that finding the right support, financial as well as expertise, advice and tools to put a new venture on a sustainable footing are vital components to success.
Business Mentors New Zealand helps around 250 businesses find a mentor every month and has assisted more than 65,000 small to medium-size enterprise owners in New Zealand in the last 22 years. Business Mentors provides access to over 1,900 volunteer mentors (who give their experience, skill and knowledge free of charge). The $150 registration fee allows mentoring for up to two years.
For more information please visit www.businessmentors.org.nz
2 Comments
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Seeking Help in Business.
I totally agree with this story, and have sought advice & help myself in business when I have needed it (though not via Business Mentors NZ). And I highly recommend any person with a young business to actively seek support & guidence.
That said when my ex-partner was struggling with his business (it was growing faster than he could manage) I suggested he seek a mentor, and after much nagging he did so via Business Mentors NZ. He paid the fee & was committed to actively working with the mentor he was allocated, however the mentor was essentially too busy, put him off on many occasions, responded very slowly to any correspondence & cancelled a number of meetings they had scheduled. And on the occasions he did make the meetings he was rushed and was dealing with multiple things (so his attention was not focused).
It took a massive amount of nagging, coaxing & reassurance to get my ex-partner to front up to Business Mnetors NZ in the first instance, so when the experience turned out badly he lost his way even more with his business and despite me telling him to request another mentor he refused (no doubt pride & feeling put out by the first experience).
What measures does Business Mentors NZ have in place to ensure that the people they are promoting to provide help & guidence are actually able to fulfil those requirements? It was so disappointing to what someone who is really great at what they do walk away from his flourishing business because it got so hard.
Business Mentors NZ
Response from Business Mentors NZ
Thanks for your feedback, we have strict measures in place for all recruitment and monitoring of our mentors. In the first instance our mentors are vetted, interviewed and reference checked and every mentor is approved personally by our CEO. We have a stringent follow up process in place whereby our agency manager contacts our clients to ensure that they are happy with the assistance they are receiving. If at any time if they are concerned they should contact their agency who are more than happy to resolve any issues. I’m sorry to hear that your partner didn’t get the help he needed, our mentors are volunteers but they agree to be committed to give time to our clients and certainly in this instance we would have organised a new mentor. We ask our mentors to only take a client if they have the time available.