E-Mentors build bridges between businesses

Businesses in the North-East can now share their expertise with Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), thanks to a new E-Mentoring service from the University of Teesside's School of Business & Management. The service is provided free to SMEs as it is funded by the European Social Fund's (ESF) Objective 2 and available to SMEs in the Tees Valley area, Darlington, Durham and Tyne and Wear.

The project is headed by James Page, who said: "The aim of the project is to enable SMEs to grow by linking them with specialists in other SMEs or larger companies. Mentoring relationships are established via electronic mail (e-mail) between individuals in SMEs (mentees) and experts (mentors) in other companies who provide advice on a range of important areas such as marketing, finance and best practice. A CD-ROM is available to Mentors, which provides training and support throughout the project.

"There are many benefits from this project for both large companies and SMEs. Larger companies can use it as part of their staff development training and increase their number of business partners. SMEs can gain practical advice from people who understand their problems."

James added: "E-mentoring provides the benefits of traditional mentoring schemes and builds upon these strengths by using e-mail, which increases efficiency and saves both time and money."

To qualify as a mentee, SMEs must not be part of a national chain of companies, and have a turnover of less than £25m per annum. For more details contact James Page on 01642 342904, fax 01642 342889, e-mail, ementoring@tees.ac.uk, website: http://sbm.tees.ac.uk/e-mentoring/index.html

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