Help us find our next Mentoring for Growth volunteer business mentors
It’s Indigenous Business Month and we want to help more First Nations owned businesses reap the benefits of the Queensland Government’s Mentoring for Growth (M4G) program, which has successfully mentored Queensland businesses of all industries and sizes for nearly 20 years.
The M4G program is looking for new mentors, especially from First Nations businesses, and we need your help in spreading the message through your networks.
The program is free and confidential for Queensland small businesses and provides access to volunteer business mentors who offer insights, options and suggestions on business challenges and opportunities.
New mentors can be based anywhere in Queensland and need to have some experience in coaching and/or developing businesses. By joining the M4G program, not only will they help other businesses to thrive, but they will also expand their own business networks and help give back to their community.
“Being a M4G mentor is a great way to help more of our Mob achieve their own independence, provide some direction in how to build the foundations of sustainable business, and help our communities achieve economic development opportunities. If you represent regional and remote First Nation’s people, it can also help you have a stronger voice at the table, increasing your opportunities to contribute or be heard as a stakeholder,” Petina Tieman, First Nations M4G mentor since 2016.
“By becoming a mentor with M4G, not only will you expand your own business network, mentoring other businesses will provide you with the opportunity to listen and learn from others’ experience and share your own insights to help their businesses thrive,” Jenni Walke, First Nations M4G mentor since 2018.
Why does M4G work?
Experience tells us that many micro and small business owners get stuck because they may be unsure of what help they need and who can help them. They are also often unable to afford the hourly rate for specialist help to give them the assistance they need. M4G works because the business owner is in the driver’s seat – in the mentoring session it is all about the business and letting the business owner identify what they want help with.
When a business registers for a free confidential M4G session, they identify the business challenge or opportunity they need help with. They are then matched with a mentor with the relevant expertise and experience.
M4G Communication Toolkit
Please click here to view our M4G Communication Toolkit. You are welcome to share the information contained in our toolkit in your newsletters, social channels, via stakeholder lists or – if you know someone who would make a wonderful mentor – through targeted communication to specific businesses.
We are also promoting the recruitment round on the following social channels and you are welcome to share posts from there:
More information is also available at www.business.qld.gov.au/mentoring
Once mentor registrations close on 31 October, all new mentors will go through an on-boarding process including client and peer reference checks and signing a legal document so that all business information shared in a mentoring session is confidential.
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