The Humboldt & District Chamber of Commerce held their monthly luncheon on Feb. 23 at the Pioneer Hotel.
This month the Chamber invited Kanchan and Sona Manek to do a presentation on one of their partnership programs, the Raj Manek Mentorship Program.
The mentorship programs mission statement states; “The Raj Manek Mentorship Program is the leading provider of business coaching, mentorship, and complementary tools to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who demonstrate a strong desire and readiness for personal and professional growth in Saskatchewan and Alberta.”
The program runs all throughout Saskatchewan with Saskatoon and Regina being the main centres and they just recently expanded the project into Northern Alberta.
Sona Manek said it was important for businesses to have a mentorship program to turn to because it gives business owners a place to gain valuable knowledge from a business owner who is in a similar sector.
“Business can be very isolating at times, it can be very difficult, you don’t feel like you have somebody to turn to or ask questions to and so a mentorship program allows you to bounce ideas off of somebody or gain advice from somebody who has been in a similar industry or through similar situations.”
Graphic Ad Owner Colleen Lessmeister was a protégé in the program for three years and said that feeling less isolated was a big deal for her.
“For new businesses you don’t really know that you’re not the only one that’s ever had this problem, you feel like you’re alone so when you have a mentor, it’s just somebody to talk to and nine times out of ten, they’ve been there and done that.”
Talking to a fellow business owner is just one of a variety of tools that the mentorship program has to help new owners, says Manek, with monthly seminars, plenty of networking opportunities, city wide seminars, and tools and resources on their website.
With their mentorship program there is also a matching system with mentors and protégé.
Before they are matched, mentors and protégé are required to meet one another and get to know one another to make sure both parties are comfortable with each other. Part of the matching process makes sure the mentor and the protégé are from similar industries but not the same to avoid having a competitive scenario between the two.
The example Manek used was a car dealership being paired up with a farm equipment dealership.
Lessmeister said the matching process was great with a great Saskatoon and Humboldt network.
“They know lots of people here and have a good way of matching up people and making it work,” says Lessmeister.
Having to drive to Saskatoon could be a bit of a problem but if you have a plan when you go there, it ends up being well worth it, says Lessmeister.
“I’d go in with a plan or a specific issue that I may have wanted to talk about, that I was having trouble with at the time, be it employee issues or sales, or marketing and then you talk about that. You may already know the answer to your problem but once you talk to somebody about it they’ll reinforce it and help you answer your own question.”
She said that even after you have been matched the mentorship program is still involved in making sure things are running smoothly.
“Kanchan is really good with keeping in touch with everybody and seeing how things are going so they take an interest in you personally and you feel that.”
As a result of their hard work and good matching process the mentorship program has seen a very high success rate, says Manek.
“Traditionally in the very first year about 50 per cent of businesses survive and then in the second year 50 per cent of that will survive… With the mentorship program we found a way to learn from the mistakes of some of our mentors and some of the people around us and be able to increase that success rate to actually flip that number around and have about an 82 per cent or so success rate with our participants.”
Lessmeister says there were a lot of benefits for her during the mentorship program but said the best benefit was being able to talk to someone else about issues and concerns about her business.
“It’s a shoulder to cry on or somebody to bounce ideas off of and it evolved into a really good relationship with another person who’s kind of been there and done that,” said Lessmeister.
Manek says they usually see an average of 22-25 protégés every year but saw an increase in those numbers as they have 35 matches this year.
In recent years the project has expanded their seminars to include webinars, says Manek.
“We also run that over the internet and so people are able to sign in from work or from home remotely and participate in the seminar as well.”
Since the inception of the program, Humboldt has seen around nine protégés participate in the program and have had one mentor. The lack of mentors compared to protégés speaks to the ability to work remotely, says Manek.
“We’re in a community where we can drive to each other or teleconferences and all of those sorts of things. Mentor and protégé will always find a way to connect, whether it’s through a breakfast teleconference or in person.”
Lessmeister said that the program was definitely a big help for her when she was starting out.
“I think in the early years it definitely did help just establish a little bit of confidence but then afterwards the people that you meet through the seminars and different networking events you can keep in touch with. They do become customers or they do become friends and so that’s a nice extra benefit so it definitely helps.”
Manek encourages everyone who is interested in the program to feel free to contact them at anytime by emailing [email protected].
