16 April 2002Our Ref: CC/SME/81Mr Eugene FungAssistant Director General of Trade and IndustryTrade and Industry Tower700 Nathan Road, Kowloon Dear EugeneMentorship Programme for SMEsThank you for inviting the Chamber to participate in the Mentorship Programme for SMEs. I am pleased to confirm the Chamber's support as a “partner” for the Programme. We wish you every success in implementing the Programme.As a champion of SME interests and having participated in the pilot scheme, it may be appropriate for us to take this opportunity to make some comment and suggestion on the current Programme.The mentorship conceptThe Chamber is a pioneer of the concept of business mentorship. One of the key objects of the Chamber is precisely to provide a medium for business mentorship among our members, through bringing together and encouraging interaction among businesses, whether large or small, established or new. Already we organise a lot of SME-related activities of a knowledge-enhancing and experience-sharing nature, which serve a mentoring function.Besides, our experience of business mentoring is that it is a very specific, even individualist, process. SMEs in general, and newly formed companies in particular, require very specific coaching and problem solving. Often the most effective mentoring takes place between two business partners, with the “junior” enterprise benefitting from the more established counterpart. A more commercial, market-driven type of mentoring takes place through a professional-client relationship, e.g. a consultant offering advice on specific legal, accounting, management or environmental aspects of business, thus “mentoring” the client in the respective areas.Lessons from the pilot schemeThe current Programme should be a progression from the pilot scheme. To take full advantage of the previous experience, there ought to be an evaluation of the Pilot Programme from where lessons should be learnt. We are slightly surprised, therefore, that the current Programme is going ahead apparently without any conclusion being drawn from the pilot scheme.From our own observation and our contacts with those who are involved in the pilot scheme, we believe some useful ideas can indeed be drawn to benefit the subsequent SME work. There is evidence, for instance, that some common themes do emerge in the problems and concerns of SMEs, such as inability to draw up a business plan, lack of experience in promotion, interest in the China market, etc. If more was known about these, relevant activities could be organised to meet their needs accordingly. It would also encourage participating organisations to organise more appropriate “niche programme” that can cater to the needs of the mentees. Operational aspects of the ProgrammeThe following are some suggestions to enable the smooth and effective running of the Programme.· To ensure that the transfer of knowledge and experience during the mentoring process is captured effectively, it is important to have a system of record keeping for every mentoring case (some would even say for every mentoring session). This is what professionals would have done in a professional-client situation. In practice, however, since mentors are giving off their time voluntarily, it is not realistic to expect mentors to compile detailed reports. There should be a role for the government to help do its part, e.g. by sending a junior officer to take notes of the meeting between mentors/mentees. The officials can also help follow up with the mentors to solicit their feedback instead of asking them to hand in written reports. · There should be more serious screening of mentees before they are matched with mentors. Not surprisingly, some of the mentees from the pilot scheme did not appear serious. This was because, unlike a commercial transaction where they have to pay to engage a consultant, the mentor's service is free. To make the best use of the mentor's resources, it is important to monitor the “entry quality” of the mentees. · There should be more frequent contacts between mentors and mentees. Mentors should be encouraged to take the initiative to contact mentees who might feel inferior and be deterred from asking too many questions. · Mentors should not all be treated as uniform. There could be some differentiation among mentors with varying degrees of expertise or commitment. For instance, a few “big guys” can provide experience sharing to a small group of people together, while some mentors of middle management may be engaged in one-to-one counselling. Related projectsWe have earlier put forward a mentoring concept which may be worth repeating. This is to establish a specific advisory programme, in the manner of the legal aid service for individuals, to help SMEs in problem-solving on specific issues. The programme can be modelled upon some of the current matching-fund schemes for SMEs, but expanded to cover consultancy in legal, accounting, management or environmental matters. In our view, such one-to-one consultation between clients and professionals will be much more effective in helping SMEs resolve concrete problems. Another concept is to develop a project to more seriously track the effectiveness of the current Programme. Instead of the current rather standardised format, the administration of the Programme can be more professionally conducted to include the following elements:· screening and initial profiling of mentees · customising mentor/mentee needs · establishing a support system for both mentor and mentees · recording and reporting · evaluation and enhancement The Chamber would be happy to consider being engaged in a more serious programme of that nature provided, funding and resources permitting.ConclusionIn supporting the Programme we have taken a construction and forward-looking attitude, hence our comments above. You will understand that if some of these remarks appear critical, this is because we wish the programme to be successful. With best regardsYours sincerely Dr W K ChanAssistant DirectorBusiness Policy(Ends)
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