Richard Tyler the Enterprise Editor of the Telegraph has recently written the post Government encourages entrepreneurs to become mentors saying that:

Mentoring is the new tax break - at least according to the Government (which can’t really afford the latter any more). Alistair Darling is a big fan as we see below. He is calling on successful entrepreneurs to give more back to the next generation

He goes on to say:

Baroness Vadera, the business minister, is exploring how the Government could recruit more mentors across the country, although admits scaling the idea to all new business owners is impractical.

But is it even a good idea?

I think it is a good idea, but only if it’s done right. Unfortunately the Government has a track record of taking good ideas about business and entrepreneurship and implementing them in impractical and ill thought out ways. I also don’t think it should focus solely on successful entrepreneurs however. There are good reasons for that:

• What if that successful entrepreneur later fails - will their failure and the press resulting from it affect those they have mentored (for an example just look at the backlash Rachel Elnaugh received when her business failed).
• Do we really know what a successful entrepreneur is? Elnaugh’s business later failed - does that make her a success or not? At the other end of the spectrum Tony Blair’s government lauded Reuben Singh as a model of entrepreneurial success and made him one of five UK ambassadors for entrepreneurship (alongside the likes of Alan Sugar and Richard Branson). Subsequently he was declared bankrupt and branded as a liar by a Judge and the Guinness Book of Records removed his entry as the youngest self made millionaire when they found out his business was really sold for £1.

Clearly the Government isn’t able to judge success. In Elnaugh’s case while some might not regard her as a success she still has valuable lessons to impart (her recent book Business Nightmares being a good example).

I also believe that there are many other experienced entrepreneurs that may or may not fit in to any chosen definition of success that through their experience still have a lot to offer - some might even be better as they are focused on mentoring and are therefore more likely to stick with it.

So what do you think? Do you have a business mentor and if so how did you choose them?

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