Border Crossing Media help companies design digital products and services for people. The business was founded in 2006 and specialises in user experience design and web development. The directors and business partners were looking for the right form of assistance to assist in managing early stage business growth to enable them to become more confident and relaxed about the prospects of expansion.
Managing Director, Esther Stringer, joined Business Mentoring Scotland in February 2013 and the relationship with her mentor, Bill Douglas, continues to this day. Bill has over 35 years experience in business and a background in the computing industry, and during the course of mentoring, meetings took place monthly and covered a wide range of topics. Bill’s mentoring approach focused on building staff confidence and tackling business planning matters, specifically, how to set robust objectives and goals. Many of the issues were strategic and qualitative; building confidence and internal capacity as well as robust business planning with achievable targets for growth.
The changes to the structure of the business organisation and the roles of the company directors helped consolidate the business, facilitating an increase in sales turnover of 50% which is set to further increase by doubling this year. Forecasts for the next two years also envisage an increase in employment and international expansion. Esther Stringer gives her thoughts on the Business Mentoring Scotland programme:
Why did you approach Business Mentoring Scotland?
“We needed someone to speak to about making the transition from executive to owner-directors running a SME.”
How did the mentoring relationship work?
“Myself and Bill have an important mentoring relationship with monthly meetings face to face plus sharing materials regularly on email.”
What was the impact of mentoring?
“Bill allowed us to see what needed to be done to build a better and more sustainable business, this gave us renewed energy to continue and reduced the chance of the business closing due to fatigue.”
What other forms of assistance aided the business?
“We approached Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise but the classification of our business limited what we could access. This led us to business mentoring which has been brilliant.”
Would you recommend the Business Mentoring Scotland programme to other businesses?
“Yes, business mentoring works well for businesses like ours; we would like to evolve the relationship with our mentor Bill rather than halt after a defined period.”