Bay of Plenty Business News December/January 2018

BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS December/January 2018 9
Business mentors make an impact
Maker Design Studio’s Mat McMillan
attributes a big part of the company’s
success - it won the emerging business
category at last month’s Westpac
Tauranga Awards - to help from his
business mentor Ian Kirkpatrick.
By DAVID PORTER
“My wife Cat, who had
scaled down her
own fulltime work
commitment to help build up
Maker, had the idea of entering
the awards,” said McMillan.
“And she was familiar with
the awards process and did the
paperwork and legwork. But
Ian has been instrumental in
helping us make the business
the growth success it has been,
which is effectively why we
won the award.”
McMillan started Maker
Design Studio about three
years ago to design and create
hand-crafted wooden light fittings.
By early 2016, he could
see the business was beginning
to take off. But as essentially
a one-man band craftsman in a
shed, he was doing everything
himself from scratch.
“I had worked in other
businesses, but I had no real
business training. I’m from a
craft background and I was
transitioning from that hourly
rate thinking to scaling up.”
McMillan said his philosophy
had always been that he
didn’t want to take on too
much risk in terms of increasing
staff numbers.
His wife’s decision to
become involved boosted the
admin and marketing side of
the business. but McMillan
was still tied up with the operational
side. He got in touch
with Business Mentors NZ,
which is one of the services
available from the Tauranga
Chamber of Commerce under
its Regional Business Partner
contract.
The service provides access
to local mentors who volunteer
their time to assist small businesses.
In return for an annual
registration fee, local business
people are paired up with a
compatible mentor and usually
get together monthly to discuss
strategy, issues and challenges.
McMillan was so pleased with
the results that he signed up
for a second year of mentoring
with Kirkpatrick.
A lot of it is a case
of a problem shared
being a problem
halved. They all
say it’s very helpful
to run stuff past
somebody else
and get another
perspective.
“He really helped me make
the transition from being a oneman
band,” said McMillan,
who also noted it had been
very helpful to have someone
outside the business to bounce
ideas off.
Solutions have included
outsourcing the production of
some of the components, and
taking on a part-time contract
employee to help with putting
the lighting fixtures together.
He is now adding a second
contracted employee.
Kirkpatrick decided to volunteer
as a mentor when he
retired after many years as a
businessman and executive
director of a company operating
in the Asia Pacific region.
“Mat has been very good
with his marketing,” said
Kirkpatrick.
“I’ve mainly helped him
Maker Design Studios’ Mat McMillan and mentor Ian Kirkpatrick: Learning from experience. Photo: Supplied.
with business structure and
strategies. We helped him set
up his business in a way that
was quite easy for him to manage.”
Kirkpatrick said the small
business owners he mentored
were all different.
“A lot of it is a case of a
problem shared being a problem
halved. They all say it’s
very helpful to run stuff past
somebody else and get another
perspective.”
Gail Hardie, Bay of Plenty
manager for Business Mentors
NZ, said the organisation had
been operating since 1991.
“We rely on volunteer mentors
to give their time and
expertise to help business
owners be more successful.
Generally speaking they meet
on a monthly basis, chew the
fat, bounce ideas around and
gain perspective.”
There are about 170 volunteer
mentors in Bay of Plenty
with approximately 150 cur-
rent mentor clients.
There is now also a separate
organisation, Community mentors
(see accompanying story).
“We recognised there was a
large number of not-for-profits
that had business arms, but
didn’t get any mentoring support,”
said Hardie. There were
already many mentors in the
pool who had not-for-profit
experience, and Community
Mentors is looking to build up
those numbers.
More mentors with community
experience needed
Community Mentors
is calling for Bay of
Plenty people with
experience in the community
and not-for-profit sector
to volunteer their time
to support the region’s
charities and community
organisations.
Community Mentors provides
support and guidance
by leveraging key skills and
experience in governance,
management and operation
of a business, charity, social
enterprise or not-for-profit
organisation.
The organisation’s general
manager Lisa Ford said
mentors were passionate,
committed individuals who
wanted to see their communities
prosper and grow in a
sustainable way.
“We’re looking for those
with business and not-forprofit
management or governance
experience who
would be willing to share
their knowledge with local
community organisations
in Rotorua, Whakatane and
Tauranga,” she said.
“Mentors don’t need to
be experts, they just need
to bring their real-life experience,
know-how and be
able to spare an hour or two
a month.”
There are currently 38 volunteer
community mentors in
Bay of Plenty, and they are
looking to grow the pool to
give the depth of knowledge
and expertise needed to meet
current demand.
Alan Withy, who has
been a community mentor
off-and-on for nearly 20
years, uses his experience
from working in management
and governance of
commercial and not-forprofit
sectors to help organisations
in need.
“Being a mentor is
incredibly rewarding,” said
Withy.
“Many organisations
have good intentions but
need refocusing from time
to time. Often I’m just a
person to bounce ideas off
but that’s often all someone
needs.
“Plus, I feel like I’m
doing my bit for the community
by passing on the
experience and knowledge
I’ve built up over the years,”
he said.
Anyone can become a
community mentor, insists
Ford.
“Whatever the organisation
you’re running and the
type of support you need, we
try and match an appropriate
mentor to you. That’s why
we need volunteer mentors
from a range of backgrounds,”
said Ford.
Community Mentors
are fully supported in their
role to help overcome some
of the challenges faced by
charities, not-for-profits
and social enterprises and
to share and develop good
practice principles.
What we really
need is a fresh
perspective…
Often small business owners get bogged down in day-to-day operating details and
forget to “take the helicopter ride up” to look at their business from a distance.
A Business Mentor can help you refocus on achieving your goals and objectives.
www.businessmentors.org.nz
P: 0800 209 209