Business Mentoring is service that is provided through the partnership of Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE), the European Social Fund (ESF) through the Highlands & Islands Partnership Programme (HIPP). The strategic aims of the service are to contribute to the improved performance of Highlands & Islands businesses and the economy by assisting and encouraging more businesses that are seeking to develop and grow, within the highlands, throughout the U.K and abroad.

Contributing to lasting Success

Business Mentoring aims to work principally with businesses that are seeking to develop and grow. The Mentors are experienced business people from a range of sectors and industries with their own unique blend of business and life experience and crucially, each has a burning desire to ‘give something back’ and support businesses and the economic growth of Scotland. Mentors provide their time on a voluntary basis and the service is provided free to businesses, that meet the criteria.

High Growth - One to One Mentoring

The ‘one to one’ business mentoring service aims to match an ambitious and growing business leader with a suitable mentor, taking into account the skills, background, experience, sector and personality of the individuals involved.

The service itself supports a mentoring period of up to 12 months, with the respective parties meeting at least once a month for the period of engagement. During this time, the mentee will meet with their mentor and be encouraged to identify business issues within their company which require improvement or support. With the help of the mentor, the mentee will be able to discuss and explore these issues in a safe and supportive environment, allowing the individual to further develop and implement appropriate improvement strategies.

It is important to note that the mentor will in no way offer business advice, their role is always to facilitate open discussion, share their knowledge and experience, offer an alternative perspective and challenge the mentee to look beyond the immediate future.

Becoming a Mentor

The Business Mentoring programme is looking to recruit experienced, successful mentors across the Highlands from a wide range of business sectors, all of whom are willing to invest their time and energy to enable other leaders and businesses to benefit from their knowledge and experience.

Mentors are established business people who are able and committed to offering their time free of charge to help another leader to grow and develop their business. We match our clients carefully to select the right skilled individual for each business through one-to-one assessments and an initial meeting to make introductions and outline how to get the most out of the relationship.

Our mentors are willing to ‘invest forward’ to enable others to benefit from their experience and the commitment is usually for at least 3-4 hours of time per month from the mentor, with successful mentoring relationships lasting on average nine months.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor or would like to be mentored, please email
mentoring@inverness-chamber.co.uk or call Inverness Chamber on 01463 718131 or contact Anne Ross, HIE Enterprise Solutions Team at anne.ross@hient.co.uk or telephone 01463 224336.