TITHE AN OIREACHTAIS
AN COMHCHOISTE UM POIST, FIONTAIR AGUS NUÁLAÍOCHT
INIÚCHADH A DHÉANAMH AR CHUR CHUIGE NUA I DTACA LE
SEIRBHÍSÍ MEÁNTÓIREACHTA A SHOLÁTHAR D’EARNÁIL NA
BHFHIONTAR BEAG AGUS MEÁNMHÉIDE (FBM) IN ÉIRINN
Feabhra 2013
HOUSES OF THE OIREACHTAS
JOINT COMMITTEE ON JOBS, ENTERPRISE AND INNOVATION
EXPLORING A NEW APPROACH TO PROVIDING MENTOR SERVICES
FOR THE SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE (SME) SECTOR IN
IRELAND
February 2013
31 JEI 005
2
Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
Exploring a New Approach to Providing Mentor Services for the Small and
Medium Enterprise (SME) Sector in Ireland.
Table of Contents
Foreword .................................................................................................................................................................... 5
1.
Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 7
2.
Background .................................................................................................................................................... 8
o 2.1 Critical role of mentoring in an SME (start-ups and scaling existing
companies).......................................................................................................................................................... 8
o
2.2 Current landscape for mentoring in Ireland ...................................................................... 9
o
2.3 Mentoring Services in Ireland ................................................................................................. 10
3.
Enterprise Ireland ................................................................................................................... 10
2.3.2
County and City Enterprise Boards (CEB’s) ............................................................... 11
2.3.3
Bord Bia........................................................................................................................................ 12
2.3.4
Shannon Development Authority (SDA) ...................................................................... 13
2.3.5
Teagasc ......................................................................................................................................... 14
2.3.6
Overview of Mentoring Services ...................................................................................... 15
New Approach ............................................................................................................................................ 17
o
3.1 Challenges with current approach to mentoring ........................................................... 17
o
3.2 Requirements of a best-in-class mentoring programme ........................................... 18
o
3.3 Proposal for a new approach to mentoring SME’s in Ireland .................................. 20
4.
5.
2.3.1
Conclusion and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 22
o
4.1 Benefits of new approach .......................................................................................................... 22
o
4.2 Mentor team structure and responsibilities: ................................................................... 23
o
4.3 Financial overview........................................................................................................................ 25
o
4.4 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 28
3
4
Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
Exploring a New Approach to Providing Mentor Services for the Small and
Medium Enterprise (SME) Sector in Ireland.
Damien English
Committee Chairman
(FG)
Foreword
The Joint Committee at its meeting of 19 February 2013 considered the
rapporteur report prepared by Deputy Áine Collins on behalf of the Committee
entitled “Exploring a new approach to providing mentor services for the Small
and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector in Ireland”.
The Chairman and Members of the Joint Committee commends Deputy Collins
for the extensive work done in preparing this comprehensive report on behalf of
the Joint Committee.
The Report highlights that mentoring is the most important soft support that the
State can provide to a new or existing business. Mentoring has the potential to
be the difference between success and failure of that business.
5
This report identifies shortcomings in the existing services and recommends
that a new national State mentoring group be formed which would combine the
current responsibilities of the Enterprise Ireland mentor group, the local State
enterprise support agencies and specialist sector-specific enterprise support
groups. The report concludes that a dedicated provider of mentoring services,
which is all-sector inclusive with an open, flexible and best-in-class approach, is
required.
The Joint Committee agreed that this Report be laid before both Houses of the
Oireachtas and that a copy of the Report be sent to the Minister for Jobs,
Enterprise and Innovation.
_____________________
Damien English TD
Chairman
26 February 2013
6
1.
Introduction:
It is now widely recognised that if Ireland is to create jobs and solve our
unemployment problem we need to enhance the indigenous SME sector. We
need to sustain and grow existing SME business and encourage budding
entrepreneurs to follow their dreams, explore their ideas and convert those ideas
into commercial entities.
Mentoring is the most important soft support that the State can give a new or
existing business. This can be the difference between success and failure of that
business. We have a lot of experience and talent in Ireland and we need to pool
all our resources which can be leveraged for mentoring services.
These strong and vibrant experienced pools of people are so willing to share
their knowledge and experience. Our multi-nationals are willing to support new
businesses and are excited about adding value. They can and are willing to
open up their expertise to fast track a new business, explore new sales
opportunities, routes to global markets and they want to do this for FREE.
The Irish Global Diaspora is an enormous asset and Irish people around the
world who are successful in business, whether their own business or in a
leadership role in a corporation. People want to help Ireland in its hour of need.
“Time to give something back”.
7
2.
Background
o
2.1 Critical role of mentoring in an SME (start-ups and scaling existing
companies)
For both start-up and existing businesses looking to scale, mentors play a
critical role in supporting the management teams in successfully driving the
business forward. Mentors perform a range of roles from a general role across
all areas of the business to a specific-focus role such as in the sales and
marketing area. Mentors are typically drawn from a variety of backgrounds
including entrepreneurial, general business/management experience, technical
and sectoral specialty.
In the case of start-ups, mentors play a particularly crucial role in supporting a
fledgling business to get off the ground and into a viable position through
supporting what are usually first-time entrepreneurs in the areas of:
 Assessing and validating the opportunity area and customer value
proposition
 Assembling a team (direct and virtual)
 Formulating a business plan
 Product development strategy
 Sales and marketing strategy with particular focus on key initial sales
 Supporting preparing the company for investment and supporting the
investment process
 Supporting the founders and management team in coping with the startup pressures and evolving as a management team
 Focussing the management team on the overall strategy of the business
 Ensuring that strategies are carried out in a timely fashion.
In the case of existing SME‟s looking to scale their business or pursue new
markets to address falling revenues, mentors play a critical role in
 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of
existing business, including staff skills and processes.
 Assessing the company‟s current market position and market trends
shaping the sectors the company operate in
8
 Assessment of resources available to the company to support day to day
business
 Supporting the company in issues relating to generating new business
opportunities/sales particularly in relation to international markets
 Supporting the creation of a new business plan to enter new markets with
existing products and/or develop new innovative products for existing
and new markets
 Support broadening management teams to support an expansion strategy
 Supporting a financing/investment process to support the expansion
 Supporting Management to make key decisions
The use of mentors in Ireland to help existing SME‟s scale is quite varied and in
many sectors there is quite low usage of experienced mentors by management
teams. This is part of the general challenges that exist today in the support
structure for SME‟s looking to scale their business.
o
2.2
Current landscape for mentoring in Ireland
In the case of start-ups, the vast majority of mentors are provided by State
agencies (Enterprise Ireland, Enterprise boards, specialist support agencies such
as Bord Bia etc.) both directly and, in many cases, in conjunction with business
incubation centre partners. In the case of existing SME‟s, mentors are provided
by a combination of SME support organisations and State agencies. There are
also several local and grass-roots entrepreneurial initiatives and organisations
which provide varying levels of mentoring support to both start-up businesses
and existing SME‟s.
Údarás
as
Figure 1 : Current mentoring landscape
9
o
2.3
Mentoring Services in Ireland
There are numerous agencies and State bodies in Ireland offering business
mentoring services to SME‟s. What is available, by whom and how much is
listed below.
2.3.1 Enterprise Ireland
EI offers the Mentor Grant which is wide-ranging and offers strong supports to
business. The specific goal of the grant is to help companies identify and
overcome obstacles to growth.
Process
 A mentoring assignment consists of 10 visits from a mentor over a 12
month period.
 Companies choose a mentor from a short-list of mentors with the
experience to meet their stated needs.
 The goals and objectives are established by the client in agreement with
the mentor at the start of the assignment.
 All mentors sign a strict confidentiality agreement with Enterprise Ireland
Eligibility
You are eligible to apply for this funding if you are:
 A manufacturing or internationally traded services SME company
employing 10-249 people.
 A new High Potential Start-up (HPSU) company (must have export
potential and more than 10 employees).
and you are a client of any of the following bodies:
 Enterprise Ireland
 A County Enterprise Board
 Údarás na Gaeltachta
Companies must not be eligible to receive the support applied for from An Bord
Bia or An Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).
Funding
 Grant support toward costs of mentor for up to 10 sessions maximum
eligible cost of €175 per day (total €1,750).
10
 The company is required to pay this per visit fee directly to the Mentor
and at the end of the assignment Enterprise Ireland will reimburse the
company with a grant covering 100% of the cost.
Website: www.enterprise-ireland.com
2.3.2 County and City Enterprise Boards (CEB’s)
The 35 CEB‟s were established in Ireland in 1993 to provide support for small
businesses („micro-enterprises‟) with 10 employees or less, at local level. Most
of the boards provide subsidised business mentoring services to small business
owners that need practical and strategic one-to-one advice and guidance. Each
CEB has a panel of business mentors for such occasions. These mentors have
helped small enterprise over/managers to think strategically on issues such as:








General Management
Financial Structuring
Production Planning
Marketing
Distribution
Corporate Organisation
Strategic Planning
Business Process Re-engineering
Criteria
 The business must have less than 10 employees to avail of the mentoring
service
 The service is available to indigenous enterprises and businesses with
export potential
 Thus, there are no restrictions as long as the business is a microenterprise.
Funding
 It varies, but most of the CEB‟s will cover 50-80% of the mentoring fees.
No board fully subsidises the costs of the sessions.
11
How to Apply
 Any individual or company looking for confidential business advice can
contact their local CEB to discuss their specific needs with a business
advisor.
Website: www.enterpriseboards.ie
2.3.3 Bord Bia
Bord Bia has various mentoring programmes incorporated into three business
development programmes. To avail of the mentoring services, the business
must sign up for one of these programmes which include workshops, training
and other supports. There are three options:
Vantage Partner
 Designed to build sustainable food businesses and to act as a feeder for
the Retail and Food Service Programmes.
 The programme is delivered over 12 months with an average of eight
small food companies taking part in the programme.
 In addition to five workshops, the companies also receive five days of
mentoring, consumer research and a market study visit.
 The programme fee is €1,250 + VAT.
 The Programme aims to assist companies with strategic direction and
growth.
Ireland Market Retail and Food service Programmes
 The Bord Bia Ireland Market department has developed a tiered approach
to working with companies who are looking to grow sales on the Irish
retail and food service markets.
 The entry point to the programmes is the „intelligence‟ level where
information is provided on market size and main players, trends,
conference reports, etc.
 Following on from the Intelligence level, there are both „entry
programmes‟ and „development programmes‟.
 While the intelligence level is free of charge „entry‟ and „development‟
are delivered through workshops and mentoring and require a fee.
 The programme fee is €1,250+VAT for the „entry‟ programme.
 The fee is also €1,250+Vat for the „development‟ programme.
12
Branding and the Brand Forum
 Bord Bia‟s Brand Forum aims for Irish companies of all sizes to pool
their individual expertise and share their common concerns
 The Forum meets on a quarterly basis in Dublin with the Regional Brand
Forum held once a year.
 In addition to the quarterly Fora, members of the Brand Forum can also
access workshops and mentoring.
 Workshop topics are centred on Branding and include Social Media,
Selling Your Brand Online, Promoting Your Brand on a Shoestring, and
Food Styling and Photography.
 Clients can avail of 16 hours of brand mentoring and areas of expertise
include brand strategy, export branding, account management and
marketing communications.
 Brand Forum membership is at a reduced rate of €250+VAT for small
food companies.
Criteria for Bord Bia Programmes
 Must be in the food services industry.
 The average company involved in these business development
programmes has 10-15 employees and annual revenues between
€100,000 and €3.5 million.
Website: www.bordbiaadvantage.ie
2.3.4 Shannon Development Authority (SDA)
SDA is a founding partner of „Endeavour‟ and offers mentoring services
through this organisation.
Endeavour
 Fast-track programme for business start-ups
 Focus on innovative technology, web and software businesses.
 The Endeavour programmes include workshops, stress panels,
professional training and progress meeting.
 Mentoring is a large part of their programme
 Each company in the programme is assigned a mentor
 Each company will have access to „floating‟ mentor teams covering the
Asian, East Coast, and West Coast regions (USA)
13
Proposed business ventures must, at minimum, meet the following criteria:
 Be in early seed stage of development
 Be engaged in the development of innovative products or services
 Propose to operate within key strategic industries, namely,
internationalised web based products / services, software, software as a
service, telecommunications, energy (with international scope),
commercialised research, advanced manufacturing.
 Propose to maintain a head office and an operational base in Kerry if
possible.
 Potential to generate annual sales of €5m within five years.
Website: www.endeavour.biz
2.3.5 Teagasc
 For the food processing sector Teagasc primarily provides technology
mentoring through training courses, in-company consulting, contract
research, access to product development facilities and expertise.
 These activities are provided from their food programmes resources at
their centres in Ashtown, Dublin and Moorepark in Fermoy, Cork.
 In relation to business mentoring, in the sense of business / marketing
development supports this is mainly available to the food sector from
Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland (EI) or BIM for the seafood sector.
 However, there is a Teagasc Business Start-Up Course which is targeted
primarily at farmers participating in the Options Programme (another
Teagasc programme)
 The course is run over 4 x 2.5 hour sessions. The course aims to give
individuals a good understanding of all aspects of business planning,
provide some mentoring on their business proposal, introduce them to
other agencies / parties who may be able to offer tangible assistance for
their specific project and challenge them to complete a business plan.
Website: www.teagasc.ie
14
2.3.6 Overview of Mentoring Services
Organisation/Agency
Enterprise Ireland
Programme
Mentor Grant consists of 10 visits
from a mentor over a 12 month
period.
Funding
Covers costs of
mentor for up to 10
sessions maximum
eligible costs of €175
per day (total
€1,750)
Funding varies, but
most of the CEBs
will cover 50-80% of
the mentoring fees.
County and City
Enterprise Boards
Most of the Boards provide
subsidised business mentoring
services to small business owners
that need practical and strategic
one-to-one advice and guidance.
Bord Bia
Boar Bia has various mentoring
programmes incorporated into three
business development programmes:
Vantage Partner, Irish Market
Retails and Food services
Programmes, and the Brand
Forum. To avail of the mentoring
services the business must sign up
for one of these programmes which
include workshops, training and
other supports.
The first two cost
€1,250+VAT while
the Brand Forum
costs €250+VAT.
Shannon Development
Authority
Offers mentoring services through
the Endeavour Programme. Each
Company will have access to
„floating‟ mentor teams covering
the Asian, East Coast, and West
Coast regions (USA).
N/A
Teagasc
No comprehensive mentoring
programme. However, the Teagasc
Business Start-Up Course does
provide some mentoring on
business proposals. However, this
appears minimal and not designed
to meet all the needs of SMEs.
N/A
15
Overview of Mentoring Services
Pros
 There is a broad range of mentoring services for SMEs in Ireland.
 The various government bodies providing these services subsidise a large
portion of the costs of these services.
Cons
 Lack of a central body means that many people are not aware of the
mentoring services available. It is quite difficult to find out what is
available and to whom. Many websites are unclear in the specifics of
what they are offering.
 Each government body/agency has different restrictions and criteria to
avail of the mentoring services. Fewer restrictions would be beneficial in
promoting growth of all SMEs in Ireland.
 Lack of a central body to coordinate the services is immensely damaging
to the promotion of SMEs in Ireland. For example, if a business owner is
shopping around for an agency to provide mentoring, they may try two
websites both of which they are excluded from and cease their search.
 However, if there is a national mentoring programme, this problem would
not arise. The coordinating body would point companies directly to
where they need to apply.
Recommendations
 Form a national organisation to coordinate and streamline mentoring
services in Ireland
 Create a volunteer mentor panel. Many Non-Governmental
Organisations (NGO‟s) persuade professionals to volunteer a small
amount of their time annually to mentor businesses. For example, it is
not a huge commitment for one person to give an hour a month of their
time to mentor a business. This would be a good cost-cutting measure
and should be seriously considered.
In the start-up sector, the vast majority of mentors are funded by the state and
provided as a free support service to the start-up either directly or through
participation in a business-support programme in a business incubator through
the local development board.
16
This is complemented by no-cost mentoring support services provided by local
initiatives and organisations. In the SME sector, supporting organisations such
as ISME and Plato provide a range of mentoring services to their members.
In the case of mentor programs funded by the State agencies, the standard
model would consist of a defined number of mentor sessions over a defined
period.
The vast majority of mentors are paid but there exists a growing number of
mentors who are prepared to either offer their services for free to help start-ups
or offer their services free for a defined period until the company is in a stronger
financial position to finance the mentoring costs and in some cases finance the
involvement of their mentor as a non-executive director committing to helping
the company on a long-term basis.
3.
New Approach
o
3.1
Challenges with current approach to mentoring
All the organisations involved in mentoring start-ups and SME‟s recognise the
critical role of mentoring in supporting Ireland‟s recovery and have invested
considerable resources and effort in supporting the management teams of these
businesses.
Given the enormous challenges of significantly increasing the number of startup businesses which are viable and supporting the expansion of those SME‟s
with significant market expansion potential, it is timely to examine the current
mentoring landscape to identify key opportunity areas for improvement and to
ensure that this critical piece of the infrastructure supporting job creation is
genuinely best-in-class.
The following represents the key challenges facing mentoring supports in
Ireland;
 Insufficient number of qualified mentors to match the number of
businesses requiring mentors, particularly in areas such as web, medical
devices, gaming and other knowledge-based business sectors
 Low percentage of mentors with genuine entrepreneurial experience
 Large variation in the engagement model in terms of duration of
mentoring assignment, scope
 Quality of oversight of mentor performance
17
 Quality and effectiveness of partnership between state agency staff and
mentors in assessing/managing the progress of the companies
 Gaps in providing high-calibre mentors to the most promising highpotential-start-ups and existing SME‟s with scaling potential
 No current structure exists to actively reach out, inspire and facilitate
appropriately qualified entrepreneurs, business people and sector
specialists to become mentors
 Significant confusion exists within the entrepreneurial and business
community as to which of the multiple organisations one should approach
if you are interested in becoming a mentor
 No current structure exists to facilitate sharing of best-in-class mentoring
techniques amongst the mentor community
 One crude one-size-fits-all remuneration structure for mentors which has
deterred some high-calibre individuals becoming mentors and which
significantly constrains flexibility in matching the highest-calibre mentors
to the most promising companies
 Significant difficulties in facilitating co-operation by multiple mentors on
supporting a company
 Low public recognition by the State agencies on the critical role mentors
are playing in nurturing our indigenous start-up and SME sector
 Multiple administration costs associated with each separate mentor
programme

Wide variation in the way in which state-funded mentoring services are
handled locally. Enterprise Ireland‟s mentoring service is currently
handled through three regional co-ordinators and each local enterprise
board has a wide variation in their mentoring approach.
o
3.2
Requirements of a best-in-class mentoring programme
The following represents the key tenets of a best-in-class state-funded mentor
programme:
One-stop-shop focused approach for state agencies providing mentors
This involves one dedicated organisation providing mentors to businesses on
behalf of the enterprise support agencies. This will facilitate an optimal
approach to harnessing the mentor community in each area, an integrated
18
approach to provide mentoring support over the lifecycle of a business and
enable sharing of best practices across mentors.
Comprehensive partnership model between client managers and mentors
This approach strengthens the partnership between the client managers
supporting companies in the enterprise support agencies with the mentors
assigned to the business. This will increase the overall quality and effectiveness
of the support provided to the company.
Proactive structure to attract additional mentors with particular emphasis on
mentors with entrepreneurial experience
This involves the provision of a mandate and resources to drive a significant
increase in the number of mentors in each region with a particular focus on
increasing the number of mentors with entrepreneurial experience. This will
also involve a campaign to raise public awareness of the critical role mentors
are playing in driving the Irish start-up and SME sector forward.
Continuous performance assessment of mentors and creation of a flexible
remuneration structure for mentors
It is crucial to set high expectations for mentors providing support to companies
and that each individual‟s performance is assessed during each assignment, at
the end of the assignment and on an overall basis. This will support both the
raising of the mentoring bar as well as support the introduction of a flexible
remuneration and reward model that incentivises the strongest mentors.
Creation of a State mentor network community
In the current landscape, there is very little co-operation between mentors both
within a particular region and between regions. For example, a mentor in
Enterprise Ireland‟s network has no visibility of the mentors and expertise in the
network. The creation of a proper dynamic mentor community network
supported by flexibility in the engagement model will foster far greater cooperation in those areas where, for example, a generalist mentor needs to bring
in a market/technical specialty mentor.
19
Increased local presence of a State mentor team
For a State mentoring function to be effective, it needs to integrate effectively
with the entrepreneurship eco-system in the region and in particular with the
incubation centres, Local Enterprise Office‟s (LEO‟s) and EI offices. This will
ensure a focused approach to maximizing the mentor participation in the region
and help co-ordinate a new partnership model between the mentors, incubation
centres and the enterprise support agency. Clearly, there is an effective balance
between the size of the regional areas supported and the associated costs.
Included in this is more openness to accessing, maintaining and flexibility of
delivery.
o
3.3
Proposal for a new approach to mentoring SME’s in Ireland
Our proposal is for a new national State mentoring group to be formed which
combines the current responsibilities of the Enterprise Ireland mentor group, the
local state enterprise support agencies and specialist sector-specific enterprise
support groups (such as Bord Bia). The core drivers behind this approach are
to:
 Create a significantly improved level and quality of State-funded
mentoring support to the start-up and scaling SME community with the
objective of increasing the number of jobs created in sustainable start-ups
and scaling SME‟s
 Significantly increase both the numbers of mentors and the calibre and
expertise of the mentors in each region with a particular emphasis on
increasing the number of mentors with an entrepreneurial background
 Provide easy access to well sign-posted mentoring services for existing
SME‟s who presently are not engaged with any development agency e.g.
EI, CEB‟s and Business Incubation Centres (BIC‟s).
 Create a new model of partnership between the client-manager in the
enterprise state agency, the mentor and, where appropriate, the support
team in an incubation centre to significantly improve the overall support
provided to start-ups and scaling SME‟s.
o Replace current mentor report system with a proper ongoing cloudbased case management system to manage the progress being made
with the company
20
o Organise regional based Case Management reviews between
mentors, agencies and other members of the regional support
system to define best development routes for SME‟s
 Create a dynamic open State mentor network which facilitates
o A flexible mentoring support model for a business that enables a
primary mentor to tap into additional expertise available in the
mentor network
o The sharing of mentoring best practices and case studies between
mentors and regions
o Delivery of specialised training (both locally-created and
international best practices)
 Raising the bar on the standard of State-funded mentoring in Ireland and
raising the overall public profile of both the mentors and the significant
economic impact strong high-quality mentoring has at both local and
national level
 Streamlining the current cost structures and processes of current Statefunded provision of mentoring services
 Simplify for all stakeholders the current eco-system of State-funded
mentoring supports by providing one single source for mentor services
 Enable a number of mentoring models appropriate to the type of start-up
and SME with a particular focus on an advanced mentoring programme
for companies who have the ability to add employment opportunities in
the immediate future.
21
4.
Conclusion and Recommendations
o
4.1
Benefits of new approach
 Significant increase in the number and calibre of mentors providing
supports to start-up and existing SME‟s, hence increasing the overall
impact on job creation/retention through high quality mentoring support
 Easier transparent access to mentoring for both start-ups and existing
SME‟s regardless of any prior enterprise development support given
 Reduced lead-times from initial identification of mentor requirement, to
mentor deployment with business
 Wider portfolio of skills available and ability of mentors to work in teams
with companies if need required
 Intelligent integration of enterprise agency, Incubation/Enterprise Centre
with mentor to drive best-in-class case management of enterprise
supports being provided to and on-going performance of the client
business
 Early “warning” system for companies who may be in trouble and for
whom intervention with mentoring and other State supports could help
retain existing employment levels
 Attractiveness to mentors, both existing and new to network, to be part of
a large, vibrant and open mentor group with a new range of mentor
models closely integrated with State support agencies and incubation
/enterprise centres
 Mentors have one point of engagement and not multiples of points
leading to different reporting requirements and different payment
structures
 No requirement to be agency supported or sector approved to apply for
mentoring. Any SME can apply for mentoring support.
22
o
4.2
Mentor team structure and responsibilities:
The structure of a national mentoring group would be as follows;
Team
The team would consist of an overall manager and nine regional mentor
coordinators giving a total headcount of 10. Each regional mentor coordinator
would be assigned an appropriate geographical area.
Mentor Coordinator responsibilities
The responsibilities of each mentor would be twofold
Local mentor programme
 Manage mentor requests and assignments
 Work in partnership with State enterprise client managers and
incubation centre teams to
o Maximise the impact of the mentor team with start-ups and
SMEs
o Actively monitor the progress of each mentor assignment
 Work closely with each mentor to
o Provide support on individual assignments
o Monitor the performance of their mentor assignments
o Monitor the overall mentor performance
 Attract new mentors to the local mentor team with a particular
emphasis on mentors with appropriate entrepreneurial experience
 Manage the local mentor network in terms of sharing of best-practice,
facilitate dissemination of new support mechanisms for companies,
recent case studies, facilitate mentor training etc.
 Provide key leadership as part of the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem in their region
23
National mentor programme
 Provide focus point in a specific sectoral speciality for national mentoring
team eg software, food, biotech, e-commerce etc.
 Drive a vibrant sharing of best-practices, case studies, recent news with
the national mentor team.
Administrative functions
It is planned to utilise a modern web-based IT environment to handle
appropriate administrative functions; with all other administrative functions
outsourced to a private sector business process outsourcing partner.
Government Department
Skillnets which operates under the Department of Education and Skills is
currently the State body with the responsibility for delivery of training.
Skillnets should have the responsibility for delivery of State mentoring
programmes in conjunction with the Department of Enterprise and the
Department of the Environment. Skillnets are best placed to ensure that all
mentors are trained and up to date on all available State supports to business.
Accessing Credit for SME’s
In the current environment it is difficult for SME‟s to access credit. Banks
would place more confidence in a business where mentors are engaged and
supporting the business. This would give greater comfort in that credit
decision.
It is possible to formalise this approach as some banks, namely AIB and Bank
of Ireland, have indicated that they would be interested in exploring this
approach.
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o
4.3
Financial overview
Current cost structure for companies utilising State mentor services
In general, early-stage businesses are not charged for the provision of mentor
services. In the case of existing SME‟s, there is a range of structures from zero
cost to anywhere from 25% to 50% of the cost of providing the mentor services.
Proposed cost structure for companies utilising State mentor services
A core component of this mentoring proposal is that with the exception of earlystage start-up companies, both existing SME‟s and those start-ups who have
reached an appropriate level of funding and/or sales, should contribute 50% to
the mentoring costs.
This is to ensure;
 There is appropriate “skin in the game” from the business to fully
leverage the mentoring support.
 Utilise these contribution payments to help fund an expanded national
State mentoring system.
 Business will engage and focus more when there is a cost involved.
Current payment structure for mentors
While there is variation in the mentor assignment and payment structure
between the various State enterprise support agencies, the current Enterprise
Ireland mentor scheme would be a representative example.
In the current EI mentor scheme, a mentor would be typically given a mentor
assignment of 5 mentor meetings with the business (in some cases up to 10
meetings is agreed). Each mentor meeting can be up to 4 hours in duration and
the mentor is paid €175 for each mentor meeting.
Proposed compensation structure for mentors
There is an imbalance in the system at present with an excess of professional
consultants for whom mentoring fees are a part of their annual income and a
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shortage of successful entrepreneurs, business and executive leaders who are
anxious to give something back and are not motivated by requiring mentoring
fees. In many cases, professional consultant mentors have more bandwidth to
devote to mentoring activities and in certain cases this has led to an over-bias to
directing assignments to these mentors rather than “volunteer” mentors who in
some cases have significantly more entrepreneurial experience.
A strong national mentor system requires a healthy balance of both types of
mentors.
The following is proposed as the compensation structure for mentors;
Upon joining the Mentor network, mentors either select a “consultant mentor”
role or a “volunteer mentor” role.
In the case of a “consultant mentor”, they will
 be paid a rate of €60 per hour up to a maximum of €175 for a 3 hour
mentor session
 be precluded from investing in any of the businesses they are mentoring
In the case of a “volunteer mentor”, they will
 waive their mentor fees which will be utilized directly in the funding of the
mentor organization
 have the ability to invest if they so choose in a business they are mentoring
Cost to State
One of the many wonderful attributes of this report is that it would have little or
no extra cost to the State. Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, has indicated
that he is supportive of this initiative and would be willing to join forces with
Skillnets on this programme and use the Enterprise Ireland Mentoring Budget to
this end.
Also as businesses would now pay for mentoring this would extend enormously
the bandwidth of the programme.
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4.4
Conclusion
It is clear that there are great opportunities to drive the SME Sector in Ireland
and also encourage entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas and to drive job
creation in Irish indigenous business sectors.
Mentoring support to business has a key role to play in driving this opportunity.
It is important that the State plays its part in driving this opportunity. It is
evident from all our research that change is needed and much more can and
should be done.
It is clear from this report and from looking to other models internationally that
a dedicated provider of mentoring services, which is all sector inclusive with an
open flexible and best-in-class approach is required.
In conclusion, this report identifies shortcomings in the existing services and
recommends that a new national State mentoring group be formed. The report
concludes that a dedicated provider of mentoring services, which is all-sector
inclusive with an open, flexible and best-in-class approach, is required.
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5.
Appendix 1
Report Prepared by:
Áine Collins, Fine Gael TD, Cork North West
Áine has 20 years‟ experience in the SME sector providing financial and
business development advice to the SME and Start-Up business sector.
Kieran Moynihan, Cork Institute of Technology
Kieran is a successful entrepreneur with much experience and is currently the
entrepreneur-in-residence at Cork Institute of Technology.
Contributors to the Report:
Edel Clancy, Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs,
Musgrave Group.
“Many of these small suppliers got through year 1 and 2 and then fall down on
processes and skills, for not billing on time and cash flow management.
Mentoring would transform this landscape and as this would be recognised
early ensuring that micro businesses engage the necessary service.”
John Webb, Head of Business Banking, Allied Irish Bank
“AIB have been looking at how they could help ensure their SME clients get the
necessary advice to ensure they stay focused on the agreed defined business
strategy.
Mark Cunningham, MD Business Banking at Bank of Ireland
“Mentoring provides a huge benefit to our SME clients.”
Frank Ryan, CEO, Enterprise Ireland
“I would be fully supportive of a national mentoring program.”
Veronica Perdisatt, Enterprise Ireland Mentor
“So much more could be achieved with a more flexible approach.”
Donagh Buckley, Head of Research, EMC, Cork
“Multinationals want to help but currently have no formal avenue to engage
with helping the SME sector. This programme would provide that avenue.”
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