The time to act is now!
Recommendations for a solid early warning mentoring system in Europe.
Here are EWEMA's top recommendations to improve the business environment for SMEs in distress.
For a strong and prosperous Europe, EWEMA, with its over 500 mentors, calls on these stakeholders to implement these recommendations without delay so as to nurture excellence in business mentoring, foster a ‘second chance’ culture, and rescue viable companies and entrepreneurs facing financial difficulties.
These recommendations are addressed to:
- Policy-Makers and Governmental organisations
- Business Organisations supporting SMEs
- Organisations providing networking facilities for mentors
- Mentors who support companies in distress
A distinct Community of Practice
EWEMA focuses on improving the availability and the scope of services for companies in distress by mobilising experts and mentors across Europe, training them, and ensuring expertise exchange, while at the same time linking them with other European networks providing services to SMEs. The ultimate goal is that the community of mentors providing services to companies in difficulties be linked and integrated effectively into the wider community of European and national support networks/business support providers/practitioners that provide a broader range of services to companies/entrepreneurs.
At the moment, there is a dual system that needs to be integrated to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness. On one hand, there is a community of mentors (both experienced and beginners), who have already demonstrated that there is great interest and willingness among business and consulting professionals to learn as much as possible about resilience mentoring, the Early Warning Europe mechanism and its tools as well as other relevant initiatives, and to get actively involved in helping companies.
On the other hand, there is a vast and, to some extent, uncharted community of European and national support networks and business support providers that offer a broader range of services to companies and entrepreneurs. Some of these already offer services focusing on resilience and early warning, as well as insolvency and/or second chance. Others do not currently offer such services but would possibly consider adding them to their portfolio. And an even broader range of organisations and networks are relevant for the mentors to know about in order to refer mentees in need of specific services.
Therefore, there is room and, more importantly, a need to bring these two communities together, to enable both parties to constantly increase their capacity to serve companies in distress. The “Community of Practice” will bear all the Early Warning Europe Network’s attributes and distinctive mindset. It will offer mentors the forum to collaboratively work with SMEs in distress but also generate and share knowledge, inspire others and contribute to building new best practice.
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