Is mentoring a capital asset for small businesses?

The five major UK banks (including our sponsor HSBC) are teaming up to offer mentoring schemes to British Small and Medium Enterprises so they can find their way to growth more quickly.

You can read about the scheme here.

This looks very much to be a step in the right direction, especially as an HSBC report outlined the new surge in small business and entrepreneurs in the UK.

The Federation of Small Businesses, which represents small companies in the UK, has backed this move by the banks saying it starts to repair the mistakes of the past by bringing people who are working in the banks closer to the business community.

The project will use current and forner members of the banks' employee base to work on a one-on-one basis with companies that as for assistance. The banks will then align them with a specialist in the area.

Knowledge - or knowing how to access it -is a key tool in any business and many companies, irrespective of their size, are always looking to assign experts to their company to give them that competitive edge.

But one of the interesting questions this raises is what has more value to a business - money or minds? Are mentors more valuable to a business than a capital injection?

As a manager of a business, would you prefer to be given access to the finest minds in your sector to hone your business, or access to more funds to develop the concepts you already have?

Could a mentor from a bank help you get some fiscal discipline back into your business, or help you develop a new leadership style?

We would love to here your thoughts on this idea. Should this scheme be made available throughout Europe?

Click here to join our Linked In group to continue the discussion.  You can see the full release on the mentoring proposal by clicking here.