While there is little doubt that New York offers the optimal environment for business growth and professional development, many employees and entrepreneurs find it challenging to create organised professional development plans without expert guidance.

This is where mentoring schemes come into play. The benefits of mentoring are well documented and are evident not only at individual level, but also have a far-reaching impact since they contribute to the creation of a more skilled and better equipped workforce, which in turns has a direct impact on the city’s prosperity and economic development. A recent study of the tech sector in New York City revealed that mentorship was a key element of success. The study examined 700 tech companies and found that 33 per cent of tech entrepreneurs who had participated in mentoring schemes became top performers. The study went on to cite famous examples, such as Nat Turner (co-founder and CEO of Flatiron Health) or Dropbox’s CEO Drew Houston.

The findings of the study mentioned above can be extrapolated to other industry sectors, so in this blog post we examine the top five business mentoring schemes available to employees and entrepreneurs in New York City.

1. Business Mentor NY

This is a free mentoring program developed by the State of New York with the objective of connecting business experts with owners of small businesses and entrepreneurs. The program is delivered by the state’s main economic development agency, Empire State Development. Mentees are expected to spend at least 6 hours per month working on set objectives, and most participants enjoy higher business survival rates and increased revenues after completing the program.

2. Score NYC

Score is another free mentoring scheme that provides on-demand personalized support to entrepreneurs based in New York City. The program is delivered by 60 highly experienced business people who volunteer to act as mentors in their various areas of expertise. Have a look at their website to learn more about the program’s success stories in industry sectors like biomedical engineering, food and beverages, digital marketing, health and beauty, home improvement, and technology.

3. Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator

The Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) is the city’s largest business accelerator program and as part of their services they offer access to New York’s widest mentoring network. ERA’s mentoring program is supported by a network of more than 300 business experts from top organisations like American Express, Cornell Tech, Google, Facebook, Comcast Ventures, Wells Fargo, and Amazon. The program is available twice a year and although it is not available to individual employees, it is open to New York City companies looking to develop the skills of their workforce.

4. WE NYC

 WE NYC is a business support initiative developed by the New York City Department of Small Business Services. This program focuses on female entrepreneurship across the city, where it is estimated that there are more than 200,000 female business owners. Their mentoring program is known as WE Connect and offers support in both general business development and specific business skills, such as negotiating contracts, branding, or pitching an idea. Some WE mentors are multilingual and offer their support in Spanish, Hebrew, Hindi, Portuguese, and other languages.

5. Everwise

Last in this list (but not in terms of importance) is Everwise, a software-as-service platform originally developed in New York to help local employees find a mentor online. The platform’s main objective is to help improve the city’s talent pool by providing tailor-made training and coaching using a predominantly hands-on approach. This mentoring platform is available on mobile devices and has been so successful that its founders recently raised $16m in funding to continue developing this one-of-a-kind digital platform.

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Sources:

(1) https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/22/mentors-are-the-secret-weapons-of-successful-startups/
(2) https://businessmentor.ny.gov/
(3) https://newyorkcity.score.org/
(4) https://www.eranyc.com/why-era/
(5) https://we.nyc/
(6) https://www.geteverwise.co