Mentoring Program Schedule

The Step Ahead One-On-One Mentoring program is designed to assist success-oriented women entrepreneurs in developing their businesses through a skills development program and relevant business exposure in both formal and informal settings. "Women Business Owners Mentoring for Success" is practised at the formal mentoring program and throughout informal mentoring opportunities. Step Ahead participants own businesses in all industry sectors, collectively employ thousands of people and generate over half a billion dollars in sales each year.

The Step Ahead One-on-One Mentoring Program is an annual program that includes two major components:

A one-on-one mentoring relationship between mentors and protégées who spend a minimum of three hours together each month; and

Ten monthly educational workshops that bring together all protégées and mentors to hear dynamic guest speakers and participate in round table discussions about business growth and challenges. The workshops address the following topics through a variety of interactive techniques.

Workshop 1: New Beginnings
Introductions, mentoring relationship, expectations and goals.

Workshop 2: Aligning Your Business to a Changing Market Place
Planning for change, macro planning, responding to customer needs, international trade.

Workshop 3: Marketing Power Boost
Five ways to boost your marketing effectiveness, generating a greater return on your investment, sales initiatives to nurture customers.

Workshop 4: Projecting a Professional Image
How to give powerful presentations, tips to establish a media image.

Workshop 5: Accessing Capital
Bargaining with financiers, bankers and venture capitalists, projecting financial needs, accounting for and protecting intellectual capital.

Workshop 6: Human Resource Strategies
Staffing options, contract, virtual, recruiting, matching skills to tasks, employer legal obligations, what to do when things go sour, employee retention.

Summer Break

Workshop 7: Creative Financial Management
Maximizing return, evaluating savings/investments, cash flow and profit when your business grows, revenue vs. profit growth.

Workshop 8: Strategies for Growth
Strategic alliances, advisory boards, developing export markets, sales initiatives to fuel growth, impact of technology.

Workshop 9: Ethics for Entrepreneurs
Establishing a code of ethics that determines ethical challenges, human rights and protecting your reputation, misuses of the Internet/email.

Workshop 10: Work–Life Balance
Strategies for developing a balance between life and work, strategies for growth.

To download an application form to join the One-on-One Mentoring Program, click here.

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