Small Business Mentoring competition to support UK companies

Barclaycard will be partnering up with The Guardian Small Business Network to give UK businesses the chance to receive advice from leading mentors.

Successful applicants to the Small Business Mentoring competition will receive support. The competition is open to British SMEs with less than £15 million turnover in the retail, professional services, and hospitality sectors.

Challenge

To enter the competition, SMEs will need to share the biggest business challenge that they are currently dealing with and what support they are receiving from a mentor.

Barclaycard Director of Customer Solutions Sharon Manikon and The Guardian Small Business Network Editor Claire Burke will join a panel of experts to judge the entries.

Three businesses will be selected to receive advice and mentoring from an expert entrepreneur to help them to grow their business.

Support

In addition, Barclaycard held its own Small Business Summit on 6 July at Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park. The company held a number of workshops to provide SMEs with skills in areas such as innovation and e-commerce.

Commenting on the Small Business Mentoring competition, Sharon Manikon, director of customer solutions at Barclaycard, said that SMEs are “the backbone of The British economy”.

She added that through the competition, “we hope to not only help our three winning businesses overcome the barriers to their growth, but also to encourage them to share their experiences with the small business community to help and inspire others to achieve their potential too.”