Gainesville Office of Equity and Inclusion to again conduct Business Mentoring Program
A program is looking for entrepreneurs to be mentors and others who want to be mentored to help create a network of successful business owners.
They are being sought by the city of Gainesville’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as it hosts its free 2024 Business Mentoring Program Kickoff from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the GRU Eastside Operations Center at 4747 N. Main St., Bldg. 7 in Multipurpose Room B.
“We pair them based on their needs,” said Sylvia Warren, equal opportunity manager for the city of Gainesville. “It is important for mentors to give back to the communities. They’ve been an incubated business and they know the pitfalls.”
Warren said the program requires mentors to have at least three years of being an entrepreneur and mentees must have a strong commitment to succeed.
The goal of the program is to expand its outreach to include more small, minority and women business owners for an increased pool of available and qualified small businesses seeking opportunities with the city of Gainesville, Warren said, adding that the program was created in the fall of 2014 and has helped about 200 to 225 people since its inception.
Faylene Welcome, the city’s small business program coordinator, said that this work means a lot to her.
“It is a passion of mine where I enjoy working with someone and watching their business grow and witness their motivation and thirst to grow their business,” Welcome said. “It is gratifying to see over a period of time, their business scale from where it began.”
Entrepreneurship is important because it helps sustain the lives of people in the community, Welcome said.
“The importance of it is that entrepreneurship gives them options for their livelihood,” Welcome said.
The program helps with the local economy in Gainesville, said Zeriah Folston, director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
“The biggest thing for business owners is growth, exposure, and strength,” Folston said. “Entrepreneurs have been instrumental throughout history and improved the livelihood and well-being of themselves and others.”
Jerome Guilford, owner of Gainesville-based Knight Raven Enterprises LLC, has been providing his moving services since 2001.
“It was an idea I had for myself because as a person I wanted to be different,” Guilford said. “Entrepreneurship is an opportunity to control my own destiny.”
Guilford said the first time he was a business mentor-protege in 2009 was at the University of Florida and he began having one mentor every year starting in 2015.
He said he enjoys being a business mentor for the city.
“They must take advantage of all of the resources and opportunities given,” Guilford said. “These are tools you will need to be successful.”
To register, visit bit.ly/45Bdebh.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Business Mentoring Program Kickoff held 4-6 p.m. Oct. 27 in G'ville
