Recently, I attended the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center's ATHENAPowerLink event, which was a celebration of my organization's successful mentoring program for women business owners. Each year, the CEC selects 4-5 business owners for this program. Each business has to be operational and have a need for outside mentors. Once we understand the company's goals, we then pair the owner up with 5-7 outside advisors / mentors who all have varied expertise.
The goal is to have several advisors who can help in different areas of the business such as marketing, sales, finance, operations, etc. By the end of the program, the women business owners have a stronger company because they have reached some milestones.
Another important element of this program is that the relationships that are built during the program usually continue afterwards These relationships are formed between entrepreneur and advisors but also between advisors.
On Thursday, we celebrated this program to award one of the participants as Business of the Year. The winner was selected based on how much progress the firm made throughout the program. This year's winner was Sublime Promotions. Congratulations to Sublime for the hardwork that was put into this program throughout the year.
Also, the CEC has other mentoring programs aimed at African-Americans, Hispanics, and youth entrepreneurs. I encourage you to get involved in a mentoring program whether it is peer-to-peer or with advisors. It is a great way to grow your business and network.
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