Jennifer Williams-Baffoe, as well as having attended two Meet a Mentor events, also has two businesses, which are connected to one another. The first is Willbaforce, a business development consultancy for the creative industries, which the entrepreneur set up in 2005.

She explains her business’s remit:

“At Willbaforce, we work with small and micro businesses and government support agencies to help individuals to set up creative businesses. So, for example, if someone wants to set up a fashion business, we’ll work with them to establish whether they need to take a course, find funding, write a business plan, all that sort of thing.”

The second business is Willbaforce Academy, an online learning portal where Jennifer teaches creative industries-related topics. Jennifer’s background is very much grounded in the fashion industry and as well as teaching via Willbaforce Academy, she also lectures at both the London College of Fashion and Central St. Martin’s.

“I have quite a varied background and one of the ways I like to engage with fashion and the creative industries is to teach and, although I do teach face-to-face, primarily I teach online. I teach fashion marketing, creative business and manufacturing, and I’m about to run a course on how to set up your own pop-up shop.”

Although the fashion world is Jennifer’s specialism, in recent years she’s worked with ceramicists, graphic artists and photographers, amongst those from other creative professions. Many of the individuals who come to Willbaforce for assistance find the service via a business support agency like Creative Islington. Jennifer also worked on an exciting project setting up a clothing factory and training creative designers in Ghana with the United Nations. So, with all this experience of supporting other businesses and teaching the next generation of creative industry pioneers, surely Jennifer went a long to Meet a Mentor as a mentor rather than as a mentee?

“The first Meet a Mentor I went to was at Kensington Roof Gardens in early 2015 and I did go as a mentor. But a colleague of mine was also there and she said ‘how come you’re here as a mentor, you’re always mentoring people. You’ve got this new business coming up, you should go as a mentee.’”

Jennifer took her friend’s advice and, in December 2015, attended Meet a Mentor again, this time as a mentee. Both experiences, she says, were fantastic:

“The first event was really good because I just networked, met people and got a bit closer to the IOEE. I already knew the IOEE because I’m SFEDI accredited but I wanted to learn more about the organisation.”

At her second Meet a Mentor, Jennifer had very specific questions about employment law and whether or not she should be hiring, which she was hoping someone would be able to answer. Amazingly, she met just the person to access the information she needed:

“There was a lawyer there who specialised in employment law. He’d thought he might not be able to help anyone there because the attendees wouldn’t be at the right point in their businesses but he was perfect for me. He answered all my questions and gave me exactly the insight I required. It was on the spot mentoring.”

Although Jennifer and the mentor she met didn’t decide to establish a long-term mentoring relationship, they stayed in touch and she believes it was a very worthwhile connection to have made:

“He said that if I needed any more information I could go back to him. Then I was telling him about some of the contacts and colleagues I have who may be interesting to him. Also, I sometimes put on events and he might be useful as a speaker at those. Making a contact as a mentee isn’t just about thinking ‘right, what can they do for me immediately?’ It’s also about recognising ways you can be mutually beneficial to one another.”

Jennifer is a real believer in the power of mentoring and has a number of relationships with people who could be classed as mentors. Whether they’re also friends or former colleagues, people like this can be useful to call on when she requires support in a specific business area or in making a key decision:

“One mentor I have is a fashion industry guru who works with a lot of high-level designers. He’s been a very constant source of information and support. Another mentor who has helped me is someone I met through the Arts Council, and she steered me more towards the creative industries.”

As well as providing new direction and industry specific support, Jennifer has found that having mentors is essential to her as a self-employed person:

“When you’re working on your own, it’s so easy to procrastinate. You just need a kick up the backside! Someone to keep your momentum going. I think that’s what a mentor does. I love the fact that a mentor doesn’t tell me what to do, they coach me. It’s ‘Have you thought of…? What would happen if…?’ They’re very clever in that way and I’m lucky to have mentors who are well-equipped and have years of experience behind them.”