How long are the mentoring sessions?  
We suggest no more than one and half hours.  You can cover quite a lot of ground and it doesn’t take too much out of the working day for either you or the mentor.
 
How many sessions will there be?
It’s up to you and your mentor.  You many decide that one meeting is all you need.  However, quite often you and the mentor will set up another date or will leave it for you to contact them when you are ready to take things forward again. Another option may be that your mentor may suggest you meet with a different mentor who may have special knowledge on an issue you are facing. It is your business, your decision.
 
What if I would just like a general chat rather than discuss a specific issue. 
It is amazing how often a general chat turns up interesting issues. We like general chats!
 
Should I bring anything to my first session?
There is no expectation of preparation or of needing to create an impression. It is just about you and your business.
 
Can I choose a mentor?
We don't let you choose a mentor. Our mentors are busy and can only do a couple of sessions each month. We do our best to find someone local to you.
 
Are the mentors trained?
All our mentors have had one day of intense training. This involves understanding what mentoring is (ie we do not tell you what to do), listening and questioning skills, and a role play exercise where they practice in front of other trainees. There is no further training as the prime skill of a mentor is the experience that they already have in running a business
 
Where will the mentoring session be held?
The first session is held somewhere convenient to the mentor, often at their office.
 
How are Oxford Business Mentors funded? 
It is run very efficiently and therefore costs very little, and much of the costs are absorbed by our business friends.  We try to keep the way we work simple and also cost and time efficient. The core administration is funded generously by Jennings, and mentors do their own follow up paperwork.  For marketing and publicity and any other advice we pull in favours from our business and mentoring network. For example, the logo was designed by one of our mentors, and the website created by one of our clients. A list of sponsors is shown elsewhere on this website. 
 
We sometimes are given funding and welcome it. However it is very important to us that we remain independent.  So, we will never become dependent on public sector funding or any other source of finance that requires us to work in a particular way.