Entrepreneurial, Business and Employment Mentoring
We’re aware that many people in Sheffield are currently facing significant employment and business questions. You may have lost your job, you may be considering retraining, starting a business or need advice of how to make your existing business stronger at this time.
The Well is fortunate to have experienced business leaders and professionals as part of the community here who have kindly offered to give their time to help provide advice and insight into your employment/business situation.
As our logo at The Well prolaims, we are ‘serving Sheffield since 2015’. This is one of many ways of equipping and helping people.
How do I get help/advice?
Simple. We need to know a bit about you and the challenge you’re facing or the idea you’d like to unpack with an experienced business leader. So complete the online questionnaire at the bottom of this page in as much detail as possible and you will be contacted to arrange an in person or online discussion to help you.
Mentoring or advice comes in the form of:
1. Individual employment advice
2. Business support
3. New ‘start up’ business support
Please highlight 1, 2, or 3 on the ‘Support Request Form’ below, and your preference for which Mentor you would like to work with you, based on their skillsets and your current situation.
support request form
Disclaimer
Please note that neither the advisors nor The Well hold any responsibility for the decisions individuals made as a result of any consultations that take place through this initiative.
meet the turnaround advisors
adrian holmes (obe)
TEAM LEADER
From 1991-2010 grew a training business with 6 staff and £250k turnover to 850 staff and £46m turnover. In this time acquired and integrated 2 more business, and completed a turnaround of a further business. Sold the group for an 8-figure sum. Worked with Private Equity. Awarded the OBE for services to the Training Industry and his Charity work. Set up his own Charity from proceeds of the sale, is a financial donor and Ambassador for Justice & Care, and a financial donor to Mercy Ships. Current business include construction, domestic and commercial property portfolio, along with a children’s residential social care business. Mentor and advisor to Individuals and business owners.
SKILLS
* Running SME business‘
* Growing business
* Business turnaround
* Problem solving
* Putting a vision into practice
* Building teams
* Bringing the best out of people
* Adapting to different Industry’s
* Quickly understanding Issues, and actions to resolve
* Simplifying Issues / actions into manageable chunks
jon curtis
Jon Curtis is CEO of www.myhrtoolkit.com a fast-growing Sheffield based SME which helps SMEs manage their employees through their leading web software. The company currently has over 1200 SME customers across the UK and nearly 60,000 people use the software on a regular basis.
Jon did a business and marketing degree back in the day and lived in Germany and Russia for seven years, working in various businesses, including building a thriving language school in Moscow. On his return to the UK, Jon qualified as a solicitor and after training with Irwin Mitchell, went on the build the 7-partner law firm Ironmonger Curtis. Jon left the law in 2018 to concentrate on Myhrtoolkit.
Jon has expertise in growing small businesses, business vision, business strategy and software as a service.
Jon is married to Amanda, has two teenagers and is a big Leicester City fan.
Chris Longbottom
Chris started his first business, Visualwind, in his final year of university in 2010 and never looked back. Visualwind is a software company providing control and management software for wind farms – fast forward to 2020 and the team are now monitoring around 1,000 turbines across the world in real time and have built a profitable business. Chris has also co-founded and successfully exited another business during this time - with one of his best friends - and has since gone on to become CEO and co-founder of Mobile Power, providing battery rental services in some of the poorest parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The company has just closed a £2 million “Series A” fundraise to expand into Nigeria and has just launched the first electric motorbike and tuktuk in Sierra Leone.
Chris is interested in the wider macroeconomic picture including wealth generation/distribution and meaningful work, and as a result is excited to help people to take hold of their own destiny, understand their own competencies and step out in faith.
SKILLS:
* Business planning including modelling
* Being realistic about competence
* Building teams/management
* The journey to an initial product and route to market
Dean Thorpe
Dean is a qualified Independent Financial Adviser, presenter and mentor. His first book, The Sixty Day Success Blog was published in 2009 and a second ‘Growing Your Own Money' in 2019. Dean has presented to audiences on business planning and personal development at events, conferences and workshops in the UK, Europe and Middle East.
The success of Dean's business gained him an entry in the 2010 Who’s Who publication of Britain’s Business Elite. Dean's firm was also in the FTAdviser Awards Top 100 Financial Advisers in 2018.
SKILLS:
* Making sense of financials
* Big picture planning & implementing
* Dreams to reality
* Getting the team right
gARY JENKINS
Gary spent a good number of years working in large companies, understanding how to get things done and mentoring team members to be effective and more confident in their roles. Later he started his own company and learned the (sometimes painful) lessons of how to work through the process of turning an idea into a business which puts bread on the table. His experience is centred around manufacturing and technology companies. His main interest lies in simply encouraging people to develop the skills and abilities that God has given them in the world of work, whether it is supporting a jobseeker to take the plunge and apply for a challenging role or helping someone think through an idea they have and grow it into a business opportunity.
KEY SKILLS:
* Loads of common sense.
* A strong conviction, that people can often do more than they think - whilst at the same time being realistic.
* Clear understanding of how the employment and business worlds operate and the need to analytically think things through.