On the 17th November, the Mentorsme Excellence in Mentoring Awards took place at the Digital Catapult Centre in London. It was an excellent event that saw over 100 mentees, mentors and mentoring organisations come together to acknowledge the importance of enterprise mentoring and celebrate the individuals raising the bar. We’re very proud to say that two IOEE mentor / mentees were recognised for their outstanding work. Cleo Morris of MarketingMaker was named Start-up Business of the year along with her mentor Oliver Morris (no relation) from Lloyds Bank, and Denise Kay of Barclay’s Bank won the title of Best Bank Mentor.
Denise won specific praise for her capacity to listen carefully to what her numerous mentees say, responding thoughtfully to the challenges and opportunities they face. Her first mentor was Jo Griffiths of BJ Upholstery, who she met in August 2014. Having worked in various roles for Barclays Bank over the last 28 years, Denise now works as a Credit Manager and has a wealth of valuable insight to offer her mentees. For her, mentoring is a great way to enjoy one-to-one contact with those she supports. She says:
“I very much enjoy the relationships I have with my mentees. The process makes me think of an old adage: ‘You know more than you think you know.’ Realising that I have all this information and experience has seen me grow in confidence.”
In fact, Denise has found that many of the areas she has experience of through working with large corporations as part of her day job are relevant when mentoring start-ups and small businesses. She says:
“Surprisingly, the big clients I work with in my role at the bank have the same issues as smaller companies – they just have more zeroes on their figures and more people in their businesses.”
Denise was thrilled to be named Best Bank Mentor, as she told us:
“I was surprised to be nominated and then when I won I was chuffed to bits!”
Cleo Morris and her mentor Oliver Morris of Lloyds Bank were also flying the flag for IOEE mentors and mentees at the awards event. The pair, who are both Birmingham based, were jointly awarded the Start Up Business of the Year award. Cleo’s business, Marketingmaker, specialises in online and real world marketing and advertising and the entrepreneur has won a number of clients including charities, SMEs and other start-ups. The IOEE matched Cleo up with Oliver and her enterprise went from strength to strength. The mentoring was particularly useful in helping Cleo to establish a firm financial footing for Marketingmaker and for her, winning the Mentorsme award has been the icing on the cake. She said:
“It has been a pleasure to experience the world of business with Oliver over the last 12 months. I’ve seen my company grow and develop at a rate that has exceeded my expectations. Winning the MentorsMe Award for Start-Up Growth has topped off what has already been a successful year for my company. I am looking forward to doing more of the same in 2016 with the same vigor and determination that has taken me to this point in business.”
Cleo also credits the mentoring relationship with improving her operational efficiency and dramatically boosting her revenue. We wish her, Oliver, Denise and all the other Mentorsme award-winners our warm congratulations. Well done!