Antoinetta was our overall award winner, becoming Business Mentor of the Year 2011. She won an iPad and case for her contribution to mentoring.
 
 

Her real name is Fiona and she is well known by friends, family and work colleagues for her ability to listen to their problems; her empathetic approach leaves them feeling happier and more positive. Fiona has used her personal and business experiences to mentor many people on Horsesmouth during the last three years and has received lots of positive feedback from those she has helped. She is a director of Now Training which provides a Managed Learning Service and she uses the challenges she has herself faced in order to help others. She says: “My approach is to break problems down into bite sized pieces, to offer my perspective and where appropriate suggest ideas and potential solutions. Most importantly I always ensure my mentees go away with lots of positives. I really draw on my own life experiences and I think people respond to my openness and honesty.”

In the last 12 months she has noticed a change in the types of requests she gets for help and has seen first-hand the devastation people feel as a direct result of the recession; be it losing a job or facing difficulties running their business. She says, “The recession has hit a lot of people very hard and losing a job can affect many areas of your life. I can make people feel more buoyant by listening and conveying an understanding of the challenges they are facing as well as suggesting ideas to improve their circumstances; it really helps people to know they’re not alone.”

Fiona believes that business and personal issues are extremely inter-woven and thinks a good business mentor will address both sides of the story: “Often someone comes to me with a work related problem and when you dig deeper you find that personal issues are often at the root of their problem. Most people feel better after sharing their feelings and discussing ways forward and as a result of this their productivity at work will go up.”

Fiona has directly responded to a wide range of calls for help on Horsesmouth including a single parent juggling kids with running a business, someone struggling with debt and depression, an individual dealing with a lack of family support in their business as well as many young people who want to set up a business but don’t know where to start.

Visit the ‘Now Training’ website, the company Fiona runs with her husband.

Askafriend was praised by judges for his ability to signpost to useful resources and for giving realistic and forthright advice. He wins £500 for his efforts during the last 12 months.
 

His real name is Anthony Fuller. He has been mentoring on horsesmouth since April 2010 and consistently spends 10-15 hours a week on the site. He looks at the calls to actions and if he can’t answer them immediately goes away and researches the answers, drawing on his wealth of business experience as well as tapping into his wife’s professional expertise in diabetes and sexual health. He specialises in advising start-up businesses and inexperienced managers on their day to day issues; also guiding ex-offenders in moving on and overcoming the challenges of rebuilding their lives, such as finding employment and getting a bank account. He says, “Horsesmouth is easy for people to use and is accessible. Unlike face to face or telephone communications there is no embarrassment in asking questions, and so it is a great way to encourage those in need to seek advice and support. I enjoy the day to day challenge of providing advice and find it very rewarding.” Anthony is retired from business, having previously been a police officer, an MD of a national IFA company and director of a major professional football club. He is now qualified to teach literacy and communication to adults and is hoping to take up a position teaching in a prison. His experience allows him to answer a mix of personal and business calls for help, and often finds that the two overlap. Jason is a winner and received £500 for the support he has given more than 40 businesses in the last 12 months.

 

You may assume that mentoring is the preserve of those who have plenty of time on their hands. Not so, as 40 year old Jason Stockwood has proven with his commitment to mentoring via horsesmouth.co.uk. He regularly helps people who come looking for advice on setting up or growing a business - despite his own work commitments as a CEO of a successful London internet business and as a non-executive director. Jason is passionate about the role the Internet plays in society and thinks that horsesmouth sums up the best of the World Wide Web, saying “We are naturally social creatures who like to help each other and share our experiences. Horsesmouth allows interactions and sharing to take place – tapping into a desire to make bonds and help society at large. Particularly if you are busy the internet allows you to mentor people on your own terms.

“Mentoring through horsesmouth is a great way for executives to help would be entrepreneurs be successful, which will ultimately help the UK revive its economy. Business growth is essential to the UK’s prosperity so if we can help businesses expand in some small way that can only be a good thing. Horsesmouth is a powerful and critical tool in modern society; it connects people in a very easy and straight forward way, and can potentially fill some of the gaps left open by government cuts.” “As to why I mentor well I want to be able to pass on my own experiences but it’s actually less altruistic than you might think. It’s a really efficient way to give my time to people who I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to meet such as young entrepreneurs with interesting and challenging business models, which stimulates my own thinking.”

Jason is CEO of www.simplybusiness.co.uk