Donncha is a mentor with the Enterprise Agencies and also provides Mentoring privately (paid for by the client)

Donncha is an experienced mentor having engaged startups and SMEs operating in a wide variety of market sectors over 10 years to include: food, Internet of Things, Software, eLearning, consumer electronics, construction, professional services, consumer services and B2B products (and many more). Mentoring is delivered using a mix of in person and online sessions using Zoom.

Testimonial featured on LinkedIn

I have had the privilege of having Donncha as a New Frontiers and Enterprise Ireland mentor. Donncha has a broad range of skills which helped support and advise our business from early product-market fit stage right on to delivering our product into the hands of customers. I highly recommend Donncha as he brought incredible insight, intuition and experience and delivered this in such a practical way it was hugely beneficial!

Glenda Hahn, Hygiene Audits

Role of a Business Mentor

The job of the Mentor is to share wisdom gained from experience and learning. The mentor’s principal function is to listen and to ask questions.

Mentors help the mentees to explore their goals and ideas for the future and to help them realistically appraise their current situation. As plans develop the role is to challenge and support the execution of the client’s plans and to assist them to keep track of their objectives.

Mentors are not encouraged to solve the problems for the client, rather to help clients develop the capability to solve their own problems.

Mentors do not carry out the work on behalf of the client but can be a source of guidance and advice for them. The mentor may offer advice and opinion, but the mentor is not a consultant. Responsibility for decision-making rests solely with the client.

Source: Clare CEB Tender Request Document 2012

ENTERPRISE AGENCY MENTORING

The enterprise agencies use a tender process to engage a panel of mentors who can be assigned to their clients. So the first step is to ask your Local Enterprise Office or Enterprise Ireland if you can be given some mentoring hours - the agency pays the mentor directly so there is no additional cost to the mentee. Donncha is a member of the LEO Galway, LEO Mayo, LEO Roscommon, Udaras and Enterprise Ireland panels.

BIZMENTORS - PRO BONO MENTORING GALWAY

Donncha is a mentor with Bizmentors a Galway based programme that provides pro bono mentoring to startups, social enterprises and small business owners - there is a growing list of mentors who provide their time and expertise at no charge as they want to give back! So if you would like to avail of 3 free One hour sessions apply now.

Networking with Bizmentors -Kevin Newell Prevos Solutions - May 2016
Donncha is Advisory Board Member with Bizmentors - Networking with Kevin Newell, Prevos Solutions (May 2016)

To book mentoring with Donncha

Mentoring is delivered using a mix of in person meetings and online sessions using Zoom. Business mentoring is generally provided as a series of sessions over the space of a few weeks. If the mentoring takes place in person, the sessions generally take up to 3 hours - there can be a lot to talk about particularly for the first session. Online mentoring is delivered via Zoom and can be scheduled for 60 or 90 minutes at a time.

I use Google Calendar to manage my diary. Please use the relevant buttons to find a suitable time in my diary that suits you to meet. If you pick an online meeting the Zoom link will be sent to you. If you opt for an in person meeting, please specify the suggested location. This can be then confirmed via email.

TO PAY FOR A ONE to ONE SESSION WITH DONNCHA HUGHES - PRIVATE MENTORING

If you want to book and need to pay for a 60 or 90 minute private mentor consultation with Donncha Hughes, Business Advisor & Mentor, you can use PayPal with your Debit or Credit Card. The fee is €100 per hour excluding VAT so a total of €123. Invoice and receipts can be supplied on request. Using the PayPal button below, select a 60 minute or a 90 minute session and then click buy now. Within PayPal you can select 1 or more in terms of quantity. After the payment is processed by PayPal, you will be redirected back to this page. You can then proceed to book your time in my calendar using the buttons above.

  How many sessions/ hours required

Possible mentoring topics

    • Business Plan

    • Financial projections

    • Pricing, costs & margins

    • Business Development

    • Partnerships

    • Routes to Market

    • Marketing

    • Website

    • SEO

    • Social Media

    • Investment

    • Grants

    • Loans & other financing

    • Staffing

    • Crowdfunding

    • R&D, new product development and innovation vouchers

    • Feasibility studies

    • Tenders

    • Market Research

As you can see, mentoring can address a range of topics. The objective is to discuss the topics so that you can make decisions for your business. A range of tools and resources can be used to facilitate that process

Please use this contact form if you have any questions

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