Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]

Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]