The Role of Mentoring for Women Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The number of women entrepreneurs lags significantly behind that of their male counterparts. There have been, and continue to be, government support programmes to encourage women’s entrepreneurship. Mentoring is often recommended as particularly relevant to women entrepreneurs. It often forms a part of the programmes aimed at encouraging women to start their own businesses. This aim of this chapter is to examine women entrepreneurs’ experience of mentoring and whether it contributed to their success. Research questions cover the identification of elements of successful mentoring for women entrepreneurs and the evaluation of the contribution of mentoring to entrepreneurial success. In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 women entrepreneurs and six of their mentors and analysed to draw out several themes. Whilst most participants expressed the view that mentoring was important, it was only part of the menu of factors that led to success. In addition, the most significant form of mentoring was often asserted to be from peers. This has implications for mentoring programmes that need to include this form of mentoring. The research was carried out in a rural area of the UK with a small sample. However, it provides some important insights.

1. Introduction

Whilst the number of women-owned enterprises has been increasing substantially in recent decades, women still create fewer enterprises than men. Government support programmes often include some form of mentoring. This is often suggested as a way of encouraging women into entrepreneurship as it is flexible, bespoke to the mentee, and provides a role model in the form of a successful woman business owner [1, 2]. Often, the “entrepreneur” is seen as typically male, so women have to manage this expectation which does not fit with their own experience [3, 4]. It has been suggested that women may have different criteria for success for their business than the stereotypical concentration on growth, such as work/life balance or social contribution [5, 6, 7].

The literature does not define how important mentoring is for female entrepreneurs, or what influence it may have on entrepreneurial practice. Whilst claims are made for the importance of mentoring for business success [8, 9, 10], the components of successful mentoring have not been determined.

The research aim of this chapter is to examine women entrepreneurs’ experience of mentoring and whether it contributed to their success. Research questions cover the identification of elements of successful mentoring for women entrepreneurs and the evaluation of the contribution of mentoring to entrepreneurial success.

By determining the characteristics of the successful mentoring relationship, it is hoped to provide pointers for entrepreneurial support programmes. In addition, evaluating whether mentoring is essential for success can provide further insights into how women entrepreneurs could be supported.

2. The importance of women’s entrepreneurship

Economic policy has often emphasised women’s entrepreneurship as a solution to underdeveloped areas. As the stereotypical picture of an entrepreneur is male, women also have to deal with the contradiction between their feminine identity and being a business owner [11].

In 2016 the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in the UK examined the importance of women’s entrepreneurship to the UK economy. The report found that flexibility was a major draw for women in running their own business, as they could continue to be involved in childcare and family life. Whilst women entrepreneurs faced the same challenges as male-led small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), there were particular areas of difference. For women, mentoring was particularly important to develop self-confidence in their own skills and abilities [12].

Some researchers have suggested that women entrepreneurs in particular benefit from institutional support and that this is vital to their success [8, 9, 10]. Institutions set out the “rules of the game” that shape an individual’s behaviour and beliefs and it is “essential for female entrepreneurs to gain institutional approval” [13].

3. What is mentoring?

Mentoring has been defined as “a formal learning relationship” where “mentors support and challenge the mentees to recognise their career potential”, with the result that “both parties perceive they are learning and gaining from the relationship [14]. Mentors support mentees by providing advice in an empowering way [15]. Mentors may be motivated by the possibility of ‘giving back’ [16]. Other sources suggest that mentoring offers the opportunity to learn from others’ experience who have “been there and done that” [17]. St Jean [18] defines the mentor as a person who “kindly watches over a younger individual”.

St Jean [18] sets out nine roles for the mentor. The first four are psychosocial functions. Mentors give reflective feedback, enabling the mentee to identify what they do well and could do better. They may also reassure the mentee to enable them to put things into perspective and relieve stress. Motivation improves the mentee’s self-confidence. Finally, being a confidant enables the mentee to use them as a sounding board. The next categories are career-related. Helping the mentee by introducing them to contacts means they can be integrated in the business community. Mentors may pass on knowledge of management, legal and industry considerations. The mentee may be confronted by the mentor which encourages reflection and problem solving. The role of guide is the final function in this category. The mentor may also act as a role model. This framework was used to measure the most effective elements of the mentor relationship with women entrepreneurs.

Mentoring style is also relevant. This could be facilitative, collaborative or instructive. St Jean and Audet [19] refer to a maieutic or non-directive approach, which is both facilitative and collaborative. This is evidenced by open questioning so that “individuals… become aware of the knowledge within them” [20]. This allows mentees to retain their autonomy. St Jean [18] originally suggested the mentor as an older, experienced person but this seems to contradict that definition.

Women mentors can provide role models for those women who are starting their businesses. The European Commission states that “mentoring programmes would be beneficial for women entrepreneurs”, and should use “successful women entrepreneurs as mentors” [21]. This clearly envisages mentors fulfilling the role model function as mentioned by St-Jean [18] above.

Thus the literature suggests mentoring as particularly important for women and recommends a collaborative approach [1, 2, 22, 23]. The role of a female mentor as role model is put forward as a reason why this form of support is important to address the gender imbalance in entrepreneurship [2].

4. Business success

Quantitative measures of business success include external, financial measures such as profit and turnover which are often cited as the main reasons for entrepreneurship. Qualitative measures may be survival, stability, job creation, recognition and personal development [24]. Motivations for starting a business will impact on the criteria the entrepreneur uses to define success. Whilst life events for men and women may be similar, it has been suggested that women may tend to be less focused on profit as a success criterion because they have always been portrayed as nurturers. This may be connected with societal stereotypes [5, 6, 7]. It may be that survival would be a better measure of success rather than growth or profit [25]. Other measures can include work-life balance, employee satisfaction, social contribution, goal achievement and effectiveness [26]. This suggests a more nuanced approach to motivation than binary classifications.

5. Are mentoring and success linked?

Whilst mentoring has been used in many programmes for entrepreneurs and in entrepreneurial learning, it is not yet known if there is a link between mentoring and business success. In most studies, there is no evaluation of how mentoring translates into long term success. Mentoring can be “more important than hard work, talent and intelligence” [27]. The “ability to learn on a continuous basis is now viewed as a key determinant of competitive success,” and “effective learning for female entrepreneurs is well served through mentoring” [9]. Despite this bold statement, there was no examination of what effect the mentoring experience might have had on the business success of the mentees.

Learning from mentors was a consistent factor in different models of mentoring [8], to the extent that they suggested that linking to mentors could provide knowledge to avoid failure. There was little examination of the claim that mentoring was linked to the direct success of the business.

In summary, women entrepreneurs may benefit from institutional support and mentoring in order to overcome additional barriers they may experience. Whilst many assertions are made linking mentoring to entrepreneurial success, there is limited evidence to support these claims. The conceptual framework derived from the literature used in this study is as follows (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework.

In this simple conceptual framework, the entrepreneur starts their business. Then the experience of mentoring is suggested here to be directly instrumental in the success of the entrepreneurial venture. At this stage, this simplistic model reflects the literature’s emphasis on the need for mentoring to achieve success [2, 9].

6. Methodology

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of women entrepreneurs. Participants were sourced through some of the local business networks that the author attends, which include the South West Women in Business (SWWIB) and Women in Southern Enterprises (WISE).

As the role of mentoring was considered in relation to business success, this required a definition of what was meant by ‘success’. Survival was used as the criterion and was used to identify participants. Survival rates for small businesses vary: different sources suggest 60% fail within three years [28]; 50% fail in first two years [29]; 30% fail within three years [30]; and the FSB [31] reported that one third of small businesses may not reopen after the COVID19 lockdown. Survival for more than three years was used as the criterion for success.

A representative from each of the five FSB [12] categories mentioned above was included. In addition, as the major industries in the location studied are farming, food and drink production and tourism, women entrepreneurs were selected who operated in these areas. Interviews with a sample of mentors were also conducted, found by snowball sampling of participants’ own mentors.

Twenty four women entrepreneurs and six mentors were interviewed.

An initial thematic analysis was undertaken. As each theme emerged, a rich picture developed. The three steps suggested by Braun and Clarke [32] were used. First, themes were identified to develop broad topics, then reviewed in relation to the research questions. Lastly themes were named to provide a coherent story. In addition the method devised by Gioia, Corley and Hamilton [33] who set out to bring what they term “qualitative rigor” to the presentation of qualitative, inductive research was used. This starts with informant-centric codes (1st order) and then progresses to researcher-centric concepts (2nd order). The final stage is the devising of aggregate dimensions. In a review of the methods of presenting qualitative research, the so called “Gioia approach” is suggested as the most suitable where data is collected by interviews [34].

Transcripts were transferred into word files to enable the identification of codes. Codes were then collated into themes, with data tables being drawn up to ensure that relevant data was identified.

7. Findings

An initial review of the data produced a picture of the participants. Ages ranged from 35 to 68, with most (12) of the women being in their 40s. Many (seven) businesses were around three to four years old, the same number had been in business five to ten years, with a few (three) more than 20 years old. One serial entrepreneur had run four businesses during this time, another had taken over a family business and one had run several businesses whilst also doing freelance work. Most were sole traders (15), with several (three) in partnership with their husbands and two who had employed their husbands in their business. A table of participants is provided in Appendix 1.

Several of the participants (four) were in property related businesses, including holiday accommodation and estate agency. Only five made products, including food and drink, and clothing and footwear. The majority had services-based businesses. Several were health related (physiotherapy, fitness training, personal development, hypnotherapy, nutrition, and kinesiology,). Others provided business services (video production and public relations, social media strategy, coaching). A quarter ran multiple businesses.

A variety of sources had been used to access mentoring. Three participants had had the same mentor from a funded programme through Business Information Services (BIP). Free mentoring from the FSB was used by one participant.. Some had used professional associations. A minority had paid for professional mentoring, mostly at a mature stage of their business. Interestingly, peer mentoring was mentioned by the majority of participants.

Snowball sampling accessed six mentors who agreed to be interviewed. Their ages ranged from 44 to 73. Half of these mentored on the free-at-delivery programmes, the others charged for their services. One of the former was the mentor from BIP. Four of the mentors were women and two were men. Details are provided in Appendix B.

Initially, thematic analysis identified six themes: upbringing; motivation to become an entrepreneur; elements of mentoring; gender; rural context; success. Some are included in Table 1.

Theme	Sub themes
Motivation to be entrepreneur	Never wanted to work for anyone else again Business meant - Something other than a mother Time with family Living in rural area was motivational as surrounded by entrepreneurs Relative showed what could be done in business
Elements of mentoring	Mentors don’t tell, help to find out Professional association specific mentoring Mentoring vital at start up Right person gives good advice with no judgement Look with different eyes Mentors as guides Bounce ideas off Ask questions Look up to Golden nuggets someone who has been there and done it Somebody to be accountable to Building confidence Challenging Looking at things differently Giving confidence to take the next step Empowered
Success	Time with family What is important Success criteria changed Connection with people important Be happy, love what you do Teach others what you know Driven by success Success get out of bed and be excited

Table 1.

Mentees: Thematic analysis.

I decided to then use the Gioia et al. [33] method to draw up a data structure (Table 2). First order codes were identified and then, second order concepts were devised: early influences, parent occupation, role models, environment, inner qualities, definitions of success, qualities of mentor, sources of mentor, gender of mentor. Overarching aggregate dimensions were: entrepreneurial enablers, entrepreneurial motivation and entrepreneurial support. These themes and dimensions overlapped somewhat with those identified from the initial thematic analysis.

1st order concepts	2nd order themes	Aggregate dimensions
Brought up in 80s Women in business on TV Mum homemaker, rebelling against that School not very motivational Working class background Couldn’t be unemployed Raised to be a wife No expectations to have business at school	Early influences	Entrepreneurial enablers
Parents always ran their own business Dad was a manufacturer Family business Entrepreneurship as reaction to mother’s domestic role Parent business – hard work	Parent occupation	Entrepreneurial enablers
Inspiration from successful female relative Image of independent business women	Role models	Entrepreneurial enablers
Living in rural area was motivational as surrounded by entrepreneurs Running business in rural area accepted	Environment	Entrepreneurial enablers
Driven by success Fantasised about own business Wanted to have product Risk taker	Inner qualities	Entrepreneurial motivation
Connection with people important Happiness Provide what is needed Get out of bed and be excited Inspire others	Definition of success	Entrepreneurial motivation
Look with different eyes Confidential advice Knowledge and experience Mentors don’t tell, help to find out Bounce ideas off Ask questions Learn from mistakes Look up to Mentors as guides Information, observation	Qualities of mentor	Entrepreneurial support
Professional association specific mentoring Peer mentoring Mother encouragement vital NEA scheme mentoring	Sources of mentoring	Entrepreneurial support
Gender unimportant Value from both male and female mentors Right person gives good advice with no judgement Men think big Like mentoring from woman Complex male female mentor relationship	Gender of mentor	Entrepreneurial support

Table 2.

Mentees: data structure using Gioia et al. [33] method.

Thematic analysis was also carried out on the mentor data (Table 3). Identified themes were: success criteria, mentoring and peer mentoring. Mentors were also asked their opinion on whether they thought mentoring contributed to business success.

Themes	Codes
Success criteria	Define their own success criteria; A lot want something beyond profit; Don’t have to make loads of money or burnout; In America, not considered success unless had a few failures
Mentoring; BUT	Working with an individual; Guidance; Use own experience; See what they can’t see; Signpost to others; Help them do their best; Information and advice, listening, empathy; Some can’t help people grow outside existing paradigm
Peer mentoring	Women good at supporting each other; Peer support is the most valuable element; Group insights
Contribution of mentoring to success	25% of success is mentoring; Some clients’ shifts are negligible, some are incredibly successful.; Mentoring can be really impactful and accelerate success.; More sustained success with mentoring

Table 3.

Mentors: thematic analysis.

Upbringing was a clear influence, as nearly half of the participants had parent entrepreneurs. The childhood environment was also influential; “I was surrounded by very successful people …I saw myself as somebody who would do quite well,” (E8). Some had found this a negative experience: “At school, the expectations were very low for everyone…I would never have thought I was going to run my own business one day,” (E15). “School probably put me off it,” (E14). Role models produced positive and negative reactions. “I saw entrepreneurship as a reaction to my mother’s role (as a housewife)” (E1). “My aunt was an incredible businesswoman, my motivation to succeed came from her” (E5). ‘Entrepreneur ‘was regarded as a negative term by some who felt unwilling to identify themselves as such. “I have negative connotations around entrepreneurship which is maybe why I might be hesitant to think of myself as an entrepreneur.” (E14). Images of entrepreneurship, particularly in the media, did not fit the women’s lived experience.

Many talked about their own qualities when asked about their motivation to start a business. This included self-confidence (E5), wanting to inspire others (E4), self-awareness (E17), being driven by success (E5), being a natural leader (E3) and being adventurous (E14).

Personal circumstances had caused some to start a business: “I needed to go freelance to sustain an income” (E13). For others, tedious work provided the push. “I didn’t really want to sit there doing the same thing day in, day out” (E18).

Life changes caused some to set up a business when this had not previously been something they had considered:

“I was caught in a Catch-22 situation of not being able to work and not being able to afford childcare. I became an entrepreneur because of necessity, I had no alternative really.” (E3)

“It became clear very early on it wasn’t going to work having a full time career and wanting to be there for my daughter.” (E15)

External life events have been added to the simple model developed from the literature.

Several definitions of success were mentioned. Some participants did mention quantitative measures such as profit, but more spoke about wanting to have a better work/life balance. Being able to spend time with their family was important to many. Inspiring others and being happy in what they did, so that they would get out of bed feeling excited was a common goal.

The majority of women found mentoring a positive experience, with one considered it was “100% vital” (E16). “Golden nuggets” of advice were valuable. For one participant, mentoring had been a major influence in setting up her business. “An advisor said to me, you can do it. I never expected to be an entrepreneur.”(E3). Thus the third aggregate dimension identified was entrepreneurial support.

St Jean’s (2012) [18] roles were used when analysing the mentoring relationship viewed by entrepreneurs and mentors. No other functions were evident (see Table 4).

Mentor roles	Illustrative quotes
Reflector	They helped me look at things with different eyes (E16); A mentor can help you understand what you have done so you can repeat it (M4)
Reassurance	I remember saying ‘I can’t do this’, and he said, ‘yes, you can’ (E3); Nurturing (M1); Hand holding (M3)
Motivator	It gave me boundaries and frameworks…someone who would push back on me (E24)
Confidant	They can give you confidential advice (E1)
Contacts	I was encouraged to network (E24); Signposting people to each other (M2),
Information support	The right person gives good advice with no judgement (E1); Giving information (M1)
Challenging	It stretched me and made me look at things I wouldn’t have looked at (E19)
Guide	It gave me confidence I was going in the right direction (E22); Sounding board (M1)
Role model	He just knew how to run a business (E20); I’ve been there, this is how you do it (M5) Sharing your experience of what worked and what didn’t (M3).

Table 4.

St Jean [18] mentor roles.

A different note was sounded by one participant who declared that mentoring had been a “waste of time”.

“I’ve never really had a Eureka moment. It was not life-changing.” (E6).

The direct relationship between mentoring and success suggested by the literature which was used to develop the original conceptual model does not seem to be borne out here.

Unusually and unexpectedly, several participants referred to getting what they considered mentoring by following influencers online (E4, E9, E16, E23). One mentioned learning from her clients who were successful businesspeople (E5). These mentors would not be aware of any mentoring relationship, which contradicts the literature.

Peer mentoring was regarded as very important.

“… they were talking about how peer to peer support was so important and how women support women and … how helpful that can be.” (E3)

“(Other business owners were) asking things like, did you realise you could do this or call me if you want to do this. I felt supported. “(E12)

“The value that I get from that is remarkable because it is specific to my business.”(E9)

One of the participants had set up her own peer mentoring network as a result.

“People could meet up once a month and talk about their challenges in business and also their personal and emotional challenges, of trying to keep the show on the road facing different challenges from somebody who is going into the office 9 to 5.” (E3)

Mentors also mentioned peer mentoring. “A critical friend is really useful.” (M5). They suggested that peers “provide role models for each other..and can offer insights” (M6). Peer mentoring was not referred to in the literature to any great extent.

Mentoring style gave rise to varied opinions amongst mentors. Asking questions, or making a “gentle enquiry” (M5) was a common component. Allowing mentees to develop their own answers was also part of the package. One warned that not all mentoring might be successful. “Some can’t help people grow outside the existing paradigm because they don’t know anything else.”(M4)

Mentees and mentors disagreed about whether it was necessary for women to be mentored by other women: “I have had mentoring from my father in law and my female friends” (E7; “I have mostly had mentoring from men, gender wasn’t important” (E2); “Successful women are happy to give back” (M2); “Women initially feel happier talking to other women” (M3); but “Not all women want another woman to succeed” (M4).

8. Discussion

Interviewing women entrepreneurs about how their experience of mentoring contributed to the success of their business, several themes emerged. Early influences, such as their parent’s occupation, powerful role models and where they had grown up all played a part. They were motivated by their own inner qualities and how they defined success. Mentoring provided entrepreneurial support.

Positive female role models, as suggested by the FSB [12] study were important (“Images of independent career women on TV” E1). However, negative role models led to women being determined to follow a different route (“I wanted to be something other than a mother” E6).

Mentors were asked if mentoring contributed to success. One (M1) estimated mentoring contributed about 25% to success. Another felt mentoring could be “really impactful” (M4). Several entrepreneurs agreed, calling mentoring “vital” (E16). Some felt they may not have started their business (E3, E17) or not have been as successful without it (E20). One woman said, “It was critical in giving me the confidence to keep going.” (E17).

Others were less definite , feeling “Mentoring didn’t create the business, it just got it off the ground quicker” (E1). Only one felt that none of the mentoring was valuable. (“Mentoring was not successful. It was not realistic” E6). So the declarations in the literature about the necessity of mentoring for women entrepreneurs were not completely borne out [22, 35]. Rather than the main element which leads to business success, it is just one of several factors.

Literature suggested a non-directive maieutic style was the most effective [19], but this was contradicted by entrepreneurs who often valued more directive advice: “It’s about practical help” (E2); “I wanted practical things to do” (E12).

Peer mentoring was not suggested as being particularly significant by the literature, but most participants mentioned its importance. Support and advice from someone who had been through the same journey was highly regarded. “The value that I get from that is remarkable because it is specific to my business” (E9). A mentor who is in the same business and who may just be slightly ahead in their business journey appears to be more impactful than an expert. The latter may be too far advanced to provide specific insights for the mentee. It was found that artisan entrepreneurs trading on Etsy (an American e-commerce company focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies) regarded peer support from others in the same industry as extremely valuable [36]. Thus it is important to add this to the consideration of the characteristics of mentoring.

The literature emphasised that a mentoring relationship should be agreed explicitly by both parties [9, 14, 15, 18]. This was not always the case for the respondents to this study. Online mentors were more aspirational than simply being peers and tended to be those who had achieved great success Classifying successful clients almost as ‘stealth’ mentors was not mentioned at all. Some research found that artisan entrepreneurs had received online advice from a peer that they had never met [37], but not from such successful sources.

Mentors referred to their satisfaction at being able to help (“it lights me up, working with small businesses” (M4)) and regarded a “critical friend” as useful (M4). One said that “women prefer to be mentored” (M3) suggesting they were less confident than men and they appreciated “someone who has been there…helping them get the best out of themselves” (M3). Growing women’s confidence was also mentioned (M1). All mentors felt that giving advice was an important part of their role. This agrees with the literature [9, 14, 15, 18].

To summarise, there was some agreement with the literature suggesting that women entrepreneurs benefit from mentoring [12], although it was not as causal as implied by some studies [2, 9, 27] but just part of the menu. Whilst some valued experienced mentors which confirm previous research [18], many mentioned wanting more practical advice, rather than the maieutic style suggested by St Jean and Audet [19]. Peer mentoring as suggested by Kuhn and Galloway [36] was definitely valued.

Measures of success certainly included more qualitative measures, so agrees with previous research [2, 9, 27]. Positive female role models were also important, although not necessarily as business mentors, so the FSB research [12] is only somewhat confirmed (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Revised conceptual framework.

A revised conceptual framework is suggested. Mentoring now consists of maieutic mentoring and practical advice. Peer mentoring has been added and given more prominence. Other additions are online role models and personal motivation. All these were mentioned by the entrepreneurs as contributing to their business success.

The linear nature of the previous model has been changed. Things do not always go to plan. Setbacks, from the economic context or personal experience, can cause bumps in the road. Life events can produce a change of focus which leads to a redefinition of business goals. Even with the benefit of mentoring and advice, success is not guaranteed.

9. Conclusion

The main elements of the St Jean [18] mentoring model were found to be relevant to women entrepreneurs. In addition, peer mentoring was revealed as significant. This should be examined in more detail. Using online role models and others who were not engaged in a formal mentoring relationship shows that the definition of mentoring is changing to include mentors who are not aware of their influence.

These additional elements add to the theory of mentoring roles and also provide some practical implications for the content of business support programmes. Entrepreneurial start up and support programmes need to recognise the value of peer mentoring. The identification of peer mentoring as a vital part of business support to encourage women to engage in entrepreneurship is an important development.

Although a successful mentoring relationship supported women in their business development, it was not the singular element that led to business success. This challenges theory and previous studies [2, 9, 27] which set out the premium importance of mentoring. The influence of personal motivation could be more important, which would lead to the need for more support for entrepreneurial ambitions at school age. None of the entrepreneurs interviewed felt that they had received such support.

The research had several limitations. Whilst it was applicable to the nature of the research aim and questions being investigated that a subjective approach was undertaken, this is an account of a relatively small number of participants. Qualitative research is by its nature concerned with smaller numbers than larger scale quantitative studies. As I am a woman entrepreneur and mentor living in the location which was investigated, I am an actor in the environment studied. This could be regarded as creating biased findings. Conversely, I viewed this as an advantage in gaining access to research participants. Personal contact is “the condition under which people come to know each other,” and interviews could be more collaborative [38]. I followed a reflexive route, “mindfully distancing (myself) from embedded circumstances” [39]. By researching friends and contacts, I could “benefit from knowing (my) co-participants well and being able to rely on shared experience” [40]. This led to trust, and empathy.

For the future, the revised model could be tested on a wider sample of participants to examine the experience of women entrepreneurs in more depth.

For this study, only those women who were classed as successful and had been mentored were interviewed. Successful women entrepreneurs who had not been mentored may have a different experience. Alternatively, women who had mentoring yet did not create a successful business could also add to the picture. Thus future studies could include these groups.

Whilst the research was carried out in a small area of the UK it is envisaged that it will help to understand the issue more generally. Future research could test the model on women entrepreneurs in other locations.

Mentee	Age	Industry	Business status
E1	44	Footwear manufacturing	Employer
E2	40	Vodka production	Employer
E3	51	PR, video production	Sole trader
E4	42	Cosmetics network marketing,; Personal development	Sole trader
E5	55	Director, estate agency	Director
E6	51	Retail, children’s wear, property, complementary therapy	Sole trader
E7	35	Farming, livery, accommodation	Partnership; with husband
E8	44	Hypnotherapy	Sole trader
E9	43	Physiotherapy	Employer
E10	45	Holiday accommodation	Sole trader
E11	68	Complementary therapy	Sole trader
E12	63	Celebrant	Sole trader
E13	45	Nutritionist, charity founder	Sole trader
E14	53	Coach, personal development	Sole trader
E15	51	Social media strategy and marketing	Sole trader
E16	44	Social care, nursing, leadership	CIC, employer
E17	44	Animal pain, outdoor expeditions	Sole trader
E18	48	VA	Sole trader
E19	59	Food manufacturing	Employer
E20	63	Clothing, property	Sole trader
E21	43	Farming, accommodation	Partner; with husband
E22	54	Food production	Partner; with husband
E23	47	Health, fitness	Sole trader
E24	60	Coaching, mediation	Sole trader

Mentor	Age	M/F	Paid/free
M1	64	F	Free
M2	51	F	Free
M3	56	F	Paid
M4	44	F	Paid
M5	59	M	Paid
M6	73	M	Free