Original text

SCORE’s latest infographic shows the impact of mentoring on business success.

This infographic highlights the findings of part 3 of SCORE’s “The Megaphone of Main Street: Women’s Entrepreneurship” data report.

SCORE surveyed more than 20,000 business owners at all points of the business lifecycle: pre-start, startup, in-business and transitioning. Here are some of the findings.

Mentoring Encourages Starts & Survival

• Entrepreneurs with access to a mentor are five times more likely to start a business (10%) than those who do not have a mentor (2%).
• 87% of businesses launched by SCORE clients within the past year are still in operation, as opposed to 75% of those without a mentor.
• The more mentoring a business receives, the greater the likelihood that a business can shake off struggles and focus on improvements and expansion.

Entrepreneurs seek help with growth and process issues

There was no statistically significant difference between responses given by male and female entrepreneurs, but there were differences in services needed according to whether a business was in the pre-start/idea phase, the first year of start-up operations, or in business for over a year.

Top concerns of businesses in the pre-start phase:

• Obtaining start-up assistance (31%)
• Writing a business plan (12%)
• Human resources issues and growth/business expansion (tie at 10%)

In the start-up phase:

• Tie between start-up assistance, human resources issues, growth/business expansion and marketing strategies (19% each)
• Marketing strategies (18%)
• Writing a business plan (7%)

In operation for more than a year:

• Human resources issues (32%)
• Growth/business expansion (30%)
• Marketing strategies (17%)

Gender Doesn’t Influence Mentoring Success

It’s not about gender, it’s about competence and respect. Mentoring satisfaction rates are little affected by the gender combinations.