SBMS

Small Business Mentoring Service (SBMS).

About SBMS

SBMS Experienced Business Mentors are part of the Small Business Mentoring Service. SBMS is an incorporated not-for-profit association that started its journey in 1986 with just 14 members.  Today there are around 150 Mentors, both male and female, who have the skills and experience to help small businesses.

Our Mentors have diverse and interesting backgrounds and have either owned their own small business or worked in an organisation that has had strong links to small business. They are extremely passionate about the role that small business plays in the economy and carry out their Mentoring work on a voluntary basis.  They acknowledge that it can be difficult, lonely and at times financially worrying running a small business.

SBMS is proudly supported by the Victorian State Government, and in particular the Minister for Small Business, the Hon Jaala Pulford MP and Small Business Victoria.

FAQ’s about the Small Business Mentoring Service

Do we research our mentoring activity? From time to time we ask our Clients to complete a confidential survey on the mentoring that has taken place with them. This might be by email, mail or by telephone. We do this to ensure that we are always improving our programs, our mentoring performance and our client’s expectations. You can see the results of our latest survey on the Testimonials page.

Do we keep data records? Yes, we record our mentoring activity in a numerical database so that we able to analyse our mentoring work. Your booking and session details are held on our database but are subject to the provisions of our Privacy and Confidentiality Policy which appears at the bottom of each screen.

Who runs SBMS Inc.? The organisation is strategically managed by a Board drawn from the volunteer members. This is headed up by our Chair Mark Brennan. We have a full time CEO, David Gregory, whose responsibility is to manage the day to day activities and to develop our mentoring activities. All our Mentors are volunteers who do not charge for their mentoring.

Is SBMS a Government department? No. The Small Business Mentoring Service is an independent, not-for-profit Association. It is part funded by DJPR through the Victorian Government, to deliver low cost mentoring programs but it operates independently from Government.

How long have the SBMS Experienced Business Mentors been operating? The organisation started in 1986 with a few like-minded retired businessmen offering services to help small businesses. Over the years we have grown so that we now have around 150 Mentors, who volunteer their time to help small business owners to address issues and to grow their businesses.

Visit www.sbms.org.au