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BUSINESS MENTORING IN NEW ZEALAND

ALVIN SHARMA S97001213

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AGENDAWhat is a mentor?Business Mentoring Business Mentoring – NZAdvantages of Business MentoringSetbacks – Business MentoringPacific Islands Business MentoringSuccess StoriesBusiness Mentoring – Other CountriesConclusion

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What is Mentor?

A mentor is someone with more entrepreneurial business experience than you who serves as a trusted confidante over an extended period of time, usually free of charge.

He/ She is selected by the protégé and is older than him/her.

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MENTORING VS COACHINGMENTOR COACH

SELECTION Protégé picks mentor

Coach selects team member

BEHAVIOUR Biased in your favour

Impartial, focused on improvement in behaviour

FOCUS Individual Performance

ROLE Facilitator with no agenda

Specific agenda

RELATIONSHIP Self Selecting Comes with the job

SOURCE OF INFLUENCE

Perceived value Position

PERSONAL RETURNS

Affirmation/ learning Teamwork/ performance

ARENA Life Task related

SUMMARY Has a deep personal interest–who cares about you and your long-term development

Develops specific skills for the task, challenges and performance expectations at work

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Business Mentoring Most business owners have someone they talk

to on a regular basis to help them make decisions, such as:

Friends and relatives you meet socially, Other business owners in a similar industry, Business associations and membership

organizations, Industry associations and specialist groups,High-profile entrepreneurs, Coaches, mentors, professional advisers,

accountants,  Professional directors.

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Business Mentoring - NZBusiness Mentoring in New Zealand is provided

through Business Mentoring New Zealand – a not for profit organization funded by the NZ Government.

Has a current pool of over 1,600 volunteer mentors nationwide

BMNZ mentors are proven successful business people – all their mentors are vetted and reference checked before being accepted into the mentoring service. 

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Business Mentoring - NZBMNZ volunteer mentors come from a diverse

range of cultures and fields including: sales and marketinggeneral managementfinance and accountingadministrationmanufacturing, production and distributionhuman resourceslegalinternational trade and exportinformation technology, andnot-for-profit experience.

04/10/2023 8SOURCE: BUSINESS MENTORS NZ ANNUAL REPORT 2010

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Business Mentoring - NZBMNZ mentors are passionate committed

individuals who understand New Zealand business and want to see their communities prosper and grow.

Their mentors know first-hand what it feels like to struggle, take risks and survive. 

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Business Mentoring - NZ

Understand the most important aspect of gaining knowledge and experience is having the opportunity to share it with others to help their learning experience. 

BMNZ takes care of the privacy issue as follows in the contract: “The privacy and confidentiality of our clients and their businesses is paramount. Before a mentor can be assigned a client, they must agree to the terms and conditionsof operation within our comprehensive Mentor Commitment Contract”.

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Business Mentoring - NZApplying for the process is as follows:

Complete the on line application form

The application will be directed to the nearest agent (usually the Chamber of Commerce)

The co-ordinator will match the applicant with a mentor who is well suited to its specific business circumstances and requirements

The coordinator will then advise the applicant of the mentor matched to its circumstances along with a time for them to meet 

The term of the applicant’s relationship with a mentor is 12 months.

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Business Mentoring - NZ Client Eligibility

Business Mentors provides mentoring to businesses that are part of the following sectors of the economy:

Tourism Eco Tourism Agriculture Exports Import Substitution Horticulture Marine Industries Service Industries Manufacturing

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Business Mentoring - NZThe criteria for businesses to

participate are:

The business has a minimum of 12 months trading history,

The applicant is the business owner The Business owner commits to a minimum

12 months participation The business owner commits to respond to

satisfaction and outcome surveys

04/10/2023 14SOURCE: BUSINESS MENTORS NZ ANNUAL REPORT 2010

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Advantages of Business Mentoring

Peace of mind, Increased confidence, A fresh prospective, Inspiration/ sounding board to bounce

ideas off for growing your business,Assistance to implement improvements,An empathetic person to listen to the

challenges and difficulties you face,

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Advantages of Business MentoringSet new goals and achieve better results.Successful mentoring depends on the

commitment you make to the mentoring relationship!

Independent, impartial advice. IT IS FREE!

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Setbacks – Business Mentoring

Depending on the Business Mentor which you are associated with, there is a possibility that your ideas may be overshadowed by that of the mentor in guise of experience.

The vision and soul of the company when it is up and running may not be yours.

Running a corporate office is different than that of running your own office. Some decisions in running your own business is purely strategic rather than financial.

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Pacific Islands Business MentoringInitiated by Pacific Islands Private Sector

Organization (PIPSO)

Expected to increase business efficiency  and capability, and to contribute to growth in the economies of the countries participating in the programme.

The New Zealand Aid Programme agreed to fund the PBMP such that it could be established in 11 countries over a three year period, which started in 2010.

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Pacific Islands Business MentoringThe full rollout programme is:

A team of 5 business mentors from NZ will visit each country for a 1 week period twice each year, during which time each mentor will assist four businesses.

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Pacific Islands Business Mentoring

ObjectivesTo strengthen business management and

empower Pacific Businesses to participate competitively in both the local and international economies.

To identify and train local mentors to be effective and to ensure sustainability and ownership of the programme.

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Pacific Islands Business Mentoring

KPI’sIncrease staff numbersIncrease turnover of each businessIncrease export sales for those businesses

who are exportersIncrease the use of business plans, marketing

plans and financial informationAchieve high levels of client company

satisfaction

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Success Stories Cafe/Restaurant – TongaA cafe/restaurant business situated in Tonga,

which caters for tourism, applied for a mentor to assist in the development of a good financial system and to assist in improving the marketing of their business,

During the mentors first visit it became clear that the cafe was running at a loss and there was no ready explanation as to why this was happening.

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Success StoriesThe owners and the mentor then decided on an action

plan involving stopping theft, revising the menu pricing, and looking for extra patronage,

Now, three months later, the owners are reporting an increase in revenue, profits and customer numbers. The owners said “The most useful part of the mentoring experience was to be able to talk to someone about our business, who actually understands and is able to offer real advice. We were very, very impressed with the knowledge of our mentor and very, very grateful we had a chance to meet with him”

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Success Stories Aluminum window and door

manufacturing business – SamoaThey were looking for ways to improve their

financial management, business planning and human resource management,

They had been in business for about five years and employed four staff and had a healthy annual turnover of about $1million. However, profitability had been poor for several years.

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Success StoriesThe mentor visited the business and discovered that

the financial quoting model they were using was based on a model used in a franchise system overseas.

The mentor discovered that the system, when used for producing quotes, was not including the cost of the glass required for the windows as for some reason this cost had been zero rated.

A test quoting exercise was undertaken which revealed that quotes for jobs which included glass, were indicating a total job cost of between 20% - 30% under the actual cost of the materials used.

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Success StoriesThe impact of this was that the business had lost

about $300K over the last 4 years, and once the problem was corrected the business profitability was restored,

The mentor also helped in finding new business opportunities for the company in excess of $1 million against international competition, with the company owner saying:

“My mentor improved my knowledge of running and sustaining my business. He advised on negotiating and tendering for new business and my company was awarded the contract – thanks to my mentor”

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Business Mentoring – Other Countries

Scotland

Luxemburg

Canada

Australia

USA

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ConclusionBusiness Mentoring in NZ differs from similar

processes in other countries.

It is an initiative by the NZ Government and is a role-model of how such a process assists in setting up and growing a small to medium level businesses.

The advice comes from reputable people who have ‘been there – done that’ and are highly experienced.

There are immense benefits to a new business owner from the NZ Business Mentoring process.

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ConclusionIt is free!

The business owner needs to ensure that he/she remains in charge during the mentoring process. That is, it is his/ her business and the soul of the business must remain with him/ her.

The Pacific Island Countries have a lot to gain from this process which has a huge potential to increase their economic growth and create more jobs.

Compared to NZ, the economies of the Pacific Island Countries, even Fiji & PNG are under-developed.

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ConclusionBusinesses in Fiji/ Government of Fiji could

formally request BMNZ to assist us in setting up small to medium businesses here.

This will complement and take the load off Business Incubation Fiji – the Government Body which is currently carrying out the same process on a smaller scale.

BIF assists sugar cane farmers, in particular, to diversify planting of cash crops, which generates income for them, once every 3 months.

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REFERENCESwww.businessmentors.org.nz

www.nzte.govt.nz

www.actioncoachbusinesscoaching.co.nz

www.plato.org.nz

www.businessmentorspacific.org.nz

www.samoachamber.ws

www.pacifictradeinvest.com

www.ncsmed.org.fj

2010 Business Mentors New Zealand Annual Report

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QUESTIONS