Date set for annual Entrepreneurs' Forum business conference

The importance of business mentoring is one of the topics up for discussion at the annual business conference of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum to be held in Gateshead.

The conference will be held at the Gateshead Hilton on May 16 and will feature speakers such as Leighton Group chairman, Paul Callaghan.

Mr Callaghan was also a founding member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum which was established over ten years ago to give emerging entrepreneurs the opportunity to network with business owners. .

It has since gone on to develop a full mentoring programme to which members have free access.

Studies suggest that 70 per cent of businesses that are mentored survive for at least five years.

Mr Callaghan will draw on his own experience as a business mentor and give suggestions for ensuring a successful mentoring relationship as one of the speakers at the business conference.

Past Chairman of Business Link and One NorthEast, he said: “Mentors use their experience altruistically because they want to help and because we hope it will help the region as a whole to grow and prosper.

“In the software sector, for example, we set up the Software City project which has, as part of its objectives, to mentor, help new businesses to grow and create critical mass which, ultimately, is good for everyone because more people will want to stay in the region and to move here.

“By their nature, most entrepreneurs don’t want to be told what to do.

“They have a view of the world, they have a business that’s exciting to them, and they want to be the ones to develop it.

“However, they also want someone to bounce ideas off, to reassure them that they’re doing the right thing, to draw things out of them and to offer some fresh thinking or a different perspective.

“As an entrepreneur you can feel lonely and isolated so it’s about having someone you trust to share both the good and bad.”