Being a critical friend

Your role will be to encourage, guide and inform your clients and to act as a sounding board for business development ideas. The reflective element enables clients to think through choices and decisions, and to ensure that they are aware of possible actions and the risks attached. Your goal will be to enable clients to develop and deliver achievable business ideas. You will help by bringing clarity to a client’s business plan. You will also be able to assess how committed your client is to setting up his or her business.

Your role as "critical friend" can be augmented by agreeing to engage a Business Mentor for the client. Mentors are successful business people who have experienced the pitfalls, the challenges and the successes of establishing a thriving business. They can be very useful during the start-up phase of your client’s business, and they will often offer their time free of charge. A few organisations that may be able to help are given below:

• Capital Enterprise ( www.capitalenterprise.org, Tel 020 7300 7252), runs a business volunteer mentoring programme for London and the South East.
• Time Together (www.timetogether.org.uk) is a UK-wide scheme which matches local people in one-to-one mentoring relationships with refugees. Not only does mentoring cover business concerns, it also encompasses education, employment and integration.
• Shell LiveWire (www.shell-livewire.org/mentor) offers online mentoring on a range of business subjects.