Enterprise Mentoring (International Trade)

Business West are seeking a service provider to deliver on-demand Enterprise Mentoring to support exclusively eligible SME’s in the South West of England who have been selected by Business West, they having successfully applied for support within the Export for Growth project. As part of a new international trade support project known as Export for Growth, Business West are seeking a service provider to deliver Enterprise Mentoring to support some selected eligible SME’s in the South West of England including Gloucestershire, Swindon & Wiltshire, West of England (Bristol, Bath, North Somerset), Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. The Enterprise Mentoring service forms part of a wider range of support products which Business West in collaboration with the Department of International Trade has designed to help SME’s new to international trade or helping novice exporters to become more effective and successful in exporting. We are seeking an on-demand Enterprise Mentoring service which will be focused exclusively on SME’s who have been selected by Business West, they having successfully applied for support within the Export for Growth project. The service will be based on the following. • A minimum of 12 hours mentoring delivered to each selected SME • Support to be available to a minimum of 100 SME’s across the South West area throughout the duration of the 2 year contract • Enterprise mentoring to be available to a range of SME’s in terms of size, sector, location and where they are on their growth path • Enterprise mentoring for each individual SME selected to be completed within 12 months of commencement of the service to them • Commencement of service to individual SME’s to begin no later than six weeks from a formal request from Business West to deliver the service to the beneficiary SME Preferably using SFEDI accredited, or equivalent professional standards of mentoring, the Enterprise Mentoring service we seek is person-focused, one-to-one support, using experienced mentors to support less experienced mentee’s. The mentor will act as a sounding board for ideas, initiatives, and international business development, encouraging mentee’s to reflect on their own skills, knowledge, experience and capabilities to grow their business internationally. A key aim is to create an environment of trust and encouragement for personal growth where the mentee is able to develop their own resourcefulness to solve problems and build a sound platform from which their business can grow in international markets. Before commencement of any mentoring support the beneficiary SME will have undergone an assessment from one of our international trade advisers, who will have recommended mentoring to be one of several business support products available from within the Export for Growth programme. We welcome applicants to submit a tender, details of which can be found on our website; http://www.businesswest.co.uk/about/tenders