Mentorship programme
The SpanisHaitianCham mentorship programme is designed to provide mentorship services to small companies, entrepreneurs or individuals wanting to start their own business. This service will guide and assist the small business community in the intricacies of managing and administering their enterprises and to improve their sustainability and success. By doing so, SpanisHaitianCham expect to reduce the risk associated with SMEs that obtain loan finance from commercial banks. The service will address two distinctly different aspects of loan finance: namely pre-loan and post-loan support.
In the pre-loan phase, SpanisHaitianCham assists with the development of a business plan by facilitating the engagement of a mentor to assist the entrepreneur with the production of a professionally developed business plan and compiling all relevant documents required for a loan or facility application. It is not the intention to prepare the business plan from scratch, but rather to provide assistance to those entrepreneurs who have applied for loan finance, and the bank has indicated that they would be prepared to approve the application subject to refinement of the business plan.
In the post-loan phase, SpanisHaitianCham will again facilitate the engagement of a mentor to provide management support to an entrepreneur after a loan has been granted. The duration and level of support will be dictated by the stage of business development and the experience of the entrepreneur e.g. start-ups, existing businesses, specialty business, etc. The mentor can also provide assistance in terms of monitoring and evaluation of the small business during the loan period by periodically visiting the small business and verifying performance, location, employment creation and any other issues that occur such as cash flow problems, and or other non-compliance to the loan agreement.
Once the business’s specific need or problem has been identified, a mentor will work one-on-one with the entrepreneur to solve it. Mentorship might center on revenue growth, cost analysis, market research, business planning, expansion, customer service, marketing and sales, accounting and record keeping, human resources, and/or e-commerce.
Mentorship can also increase the personal and business success by helping the entrepreneur to develop sound leadership capabilities, rediscover his passion, navigate changes in the global economy, become more efficient with his time and finances, manage his work load, clarify his goals, and achieve greater satisfaction within his business and personal life.