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.

Manhattan has one of the most dynamic economies in the United States. This New York City borough ranks high in terms of employment numbers and innovation, and is home to more than 125,000 firms. If you are looking to set up a business in Manhattan, this quick guide will provide you with information on the key support services available.

Financing and Incentives for businesses in Manhattan

The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation is a good starting point for local business owners in need of funding. This organization offers business investment loans, small business loans, and microloans ranging from $500 to $250,000.  Find out more information at www.umez.org/.

Sales & Use Tax Exemption applies to eligible Manhattan business owners who purchase equipment, furniture and/or fixtures for new office premises. The premises must be leased for at least 10 years and must be located at the World Trade Center Site, Battery Park City, or the World Financial Center.

A rent abatement program is available to tenants of office or commercial premises located in a specific area of Lower Manhattan (Zone 4 or the areas between Murray, Frankfort, South and West Streets and along Battery Place). This program applies to commercial premises built before 1975 and implies a rent reduction of $2.5/ square foot. For further information, contact the administering agency (the New York City Department of Finance). The CRP (Commercial Revitalization Program) is similar program also managed by the same agency. This scheme aims to boost commercial occupancy rates in designated parts of the Lower Manhattan area. Some of the incentives offered by this program include 3 and 5-year rent tax abatements on new, expanded, or renewed lease agreements.

Conferences are opportunities for technology entrepreneurs and start-ups to look for co-founders, investors and partners. They also provide a forum for established businesses to showcase their services and products, as well as share best practice. An international centre for business and innovation, New York City hosts several technology conferences each year.

Social Media Week

Social Media Week spurs a worldwide conversation about connecting the world through technology. Events are held in 18 cities including London, Mumbai, Chicago, Sydney, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Milan and Jakarta. The theme for 2016 is ‘The Invisible Hand’, and events will delve into the hidden forces of technology and look at ways to harness them for good. Now in its eight year, Social Media Week New York attracts thousands of marketing, media and technology professionals. Held at The TimesCenter and the SVA Theatre from February 22 to 26, the expected line-up of 230 speakers include New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson, CollegeHumor co-founder Ricky Van Veen, and Refinery29 co-founder Philippe von Borries. Go to http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork for more information. (Twitter: @smwnyc)

Techweek NYC

The fourth annual Techweek NYC takes place from October 10 to 16. At previous events, key note speakers included Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti. The event attracts businesses and innovators from every aspect of the technology sector, from Fortune 500 CEOs sharing their success stories to start-ups looking for investors. Techweek also includes events in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City and Toronto. Speaker sessions showcase breakthrough trends and success stories to educate delegates on what is relevant and innovative. The Entrepreneur Expo is an opportunity for companies to present their services and provide advice to tech entrepreneurs and start-ups, while the launch Competition reveals the best new businesses in the New York area. Several events are also hosted by sponsors and partners. For further information go to www.techweek.com/newyork. (Twitter: @TechweekNYC)

Business in the Bronx

One of New York City’s five boroughs, The Bronx is one of the most densely populated counties in the United States. The borough is also home to the New York Botanical Garden, Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Zoo, and other famous parks and attractions. With a population of more than 1.4 million people, the Bronx is a mix of European, African American and Caribbean cultures and the birthplace of hip hop. Since the late 1980s, the area has seen significant revitalization and development focusing on new housing. In more recent years, formerly vacant lots in South Bronx are being redeveloped for residential and commercial use.

The Bronx’s Economy

The Bronx is primarily a residential borough, and its economy is focused on local markets. The borough’s economy is service oriented with a majority of private sector sobs within the service sector. Health care, trade, education, and social services account for nearly half of all private sector jobs in the Bronx. In terms of population and employment, the borough is growing. After seeing significant decline up until the 1980s, the Bronx added 53,600 jobs between 1983 and 2012 – an increase of 33 per cent. Since 1980, the Bronx’s population has increased by 20 per cent.

The number of businesses also rose by 26 per cent between 1990 and 2011, with the largest growth in the South Bronx. Most businesses in the area are small, with about two-thirds employment less than five employees. Approximately 80 per cent of businesses in the Bronx employ less than ten employees. Most businesses are in the retail sector, followed by real estate.

Staten Island, although the smallest borough of New York City with a population of less than 500,000 people, has shown many positive signs of growth in recent times.

Major Economic Drivers For Staten Island

The slower acclimation of technology start-ups into the Staten Island community in comparison to the other four New York boroughs means that the area predominantly relies on other economic drivers to grow and sustain its economy, although this is starting to change.

One of the faster growing economic drivers for Staten Island is tourism. The VisitStatenIsland.com website was started in 2009 to help drive more tourism revenue to the area and the initial results indicate that visitors are responding.

The main economic driver for Staten Island remains its healthcare system. One of the more unique aspects of Staten Island is that it runs its own hospitals and is completely independent of the New York City government. Health research and healthcare remain a prime economic factor for  Staten Island residents.

Primary Industries And Employers For Staten Island

The most prominent industry on Staten Island is healthcare. Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital are two of the larger employers on the island for a variety of trades and professions.

Running a close second as far as dominant industries on Staten Island is the financial sales and insurance industries. There are nearly as many people employed in the financial and insurance industries on Staten Island as there are in healthcare.

Business Funding Opportunities On Staten Island

Brooklyn is the most highly populated of all of New York City’s boroughs along with being the second largest. In recent years the face of Brooklyn has changed from that of a hard-working blue collar employee, to a white collar professional. Thanks to some of the business initiatives started by New York City, the entire area has become a haven for technology start-ups. But Brooklyn is a borough that has added little something extra to its economic success and that has helped it to grow faster than many of the other boroughs.

See our article on New York Central Business Districts (CBD’s)

Remote workers, also known as telecommuters, are becoming more prominent in the workplace these days. The benefits of utilizing remote workers is that you can take on employees that do not live in your geographic area, you can reduce your office costs, and you can create flexible work schedules that better serve your business. But there are challenges to utilizing remote workers that every company must overcome. The biggest challenge is working out how to manage employees that you do not see in person on a regular basis.

Consider Deadlines Instead Of Work Hours

You could ask employees to clock into a workday through an Internet program or by utilizing a phone system, but even that is not going to give you an accurate method for monitoring their work. Instead of worrying about having remote employees put in the prerequisite 40 hours per week, consider setting deadlines for tasks and holding remote employees to those deadlines.

When you utilize deadlines, you allow your remote employees to make their own schedule and that can increase productivity. You will also find morale on the rise when employees are empowered to determine their own work routine.

Have Regular Meetings

If your remote workers are close enough for them to reasonably drive to the office, then you could have regularly scheduled meetings at least once a week with all remote workers. If your team is scattered around the world, then create regular meeting times, either by phone or video conference, that you can meet.

After a bout of turmoil in the early part of the 21st century, the financial sector in New York has definitely taken a turn toward the positive. With positive growth in most sectors of the city and state’s economy, New York has seen positive gains in all sectors. However, the gains found in the financial services sector of New York have been among the most significant. Not only has this growth been significant, but it has also been intrinsically linked to the growth felt by New Yorkers coming out of the great recession of 2008.

The Financial Sector is Hiring

It’s a well-established fact that New York financial firms are providing some of the most attractive salaries available in the financial services sector today. However, it’s also important to note that these companies are still actively hiring people even as recovery continues. Every tier of the financial services sector is seeing positive gains from the lowest-tier traders to the highest executive positions. In fact, as the years roll on it’s actually been found that these companies are hiring more rather than less. This could be attributed to a number of factors, but consumer confidence in the financial markets has played a key role here.

As consumer confidence has started to come back, large and midsize financial firms have found themselves in a position to bring on a larger work force. Since confident investors make confident investments, the flow of money going into new markets has continued to grow and this has led to a number of positive results. For one, those seeking investors have found a more attractive environment to start a business in. Another benefit has been that this higher amount of cash flow in the markets has allowed for companies to bring in a larger amount of experienced traders.

New York City is one of the top business locations in the world and plays host to some of the most important business conferences and seminars annually. Below you will find some of the key business conferences for 2014.

NYC Real Estate Investor Orientation

There are eleven Empire zones in New York City that are offered benefits and incentives to expand commercial, retail and industrial companies. These are The Bronx (Port Morris and Hunts Point), Manhattan (East Harlem and Chinatown), Staten Island (West Shore and North), Brooklyn (Southwest Brooklyn, East Brooklyn, North Brooklyn/ Brooklyn Navy Yard) and Queens (South Jamaica and Far Rockaway).