CALLING all successful business people – would you like to share your knowledge and give something back?

Mentoring can be one of the most powerful tools for a budding entrepreneur. A business mentor can provide experience, knowledge, guidance and contacts that can save you years in legwork.

The big problem for those starting a business is finding a mentor who would be willing to help. At the same time there are many successful people who would love the chance to help a fledgling firm get off the ground – but they either lack the time or have no idea how to go about sharing their skills.

Happily, there is now a solution in the form of an online networking platform called Horsesmouth (Horsesmouth.co.uk). It will be launched next month to bring together those who have experience with those who are looking for answers.

Successful entrepreneurs and business people will be able to sign up and commit as much or as little of their time as they feel able. Budding entrepreneurs will be able to ask the mentors questions, with complete anonymity on both sides.

Horsesmouth has been created by Marie-Therese Rainey, herself a successful entrepreneur. Describing it as a kind of MySpace for business, or an “eBay of life experiences”, she said: “Sometimes the intervention of an understanding stranger who has been in the same situation can be transformative. It is great to be able to talk to someone who has trodden the path before you.”

A key principle of the site, which carries the mantra “no wisdom wasted” is that all users have value in their life experiences and that they can all act as either advisers or advised. The main function of the website will be one-to-one private conversations but users will be encouraged to publish their discussions on the site for others to read.

“It is entirely user-driven,” said Rainey. “We are building a great knowledge base of first-hand experience.”

Horsesmouth is now recruiting mentors. It will not just be offering business mentoring. You will be able to ask questions about all aspects of life – ranging from education and work to relationships and children.

“The idea came out of the conviction that the web could be used for public good if what we were sharing was our collective wisdom. We thought we could create a social network that could be transformational,” said Rainey. “Real-life mentoring is a wonderful thing but people have to commit huge amounts of time and resources to it.”

Horsesmouth already has more than 3,000 mentors signed up, of whom about 500 have registered as business mentors.

They can commit to as little as one hour a week and can use a stop-watch feature on the site that will tell them how long they have spent mentoring. Once the allotted time has been reached, their profile will be taken down from the site. Mentors can choose whether or not to be anonymous.

Users of the site will be able to rate the quality of their mentoring experience with a system called the M factor. Mentors can be graded on the basis of being helpful, friendly and timely. It will work in much the same way as sellers on eBay are rated on the service they provide.

Large businesses and organisations can opt to become Horsesmouth partners, which means they provide several of their staff as expert mentors on the site.

These mentors will be identified by the organisation they are representing – Accenture, JP Morgan and Yell are already in discussions about doing this.

Rainey said that as well as being a communication outlet for an organisation or trade body, Horsesmouth will be a great way for a company to fulfil its social-responsibility obligations. Because the amount of time spent mentoring can be timed and monitored, employees will be able to build up a record of their mentoring experience.

She said: “It is a fantastic way for their employees to volunteer because it is an altruistic thing, but at the same time it means that you have all these people online being able to talk to others about what it is like to have a career as a teacher or an engineer.”

Horsesmouth is a not-for-profit venture, and Rainey hopes to make it sustainable by charging organisations to become partners. She also wants to attract sponsorship.

The City & Guilds, the largest vocational qualifications body in Britain, is one organisation that plans to become a branded partner.

Chris Humphries, director-general of City & Guilds, said: “We have been besieged for years by alumni who are successfully working in their field asking how they can help others, and at the same time we get requests from thousands of young people about what direction they should be going.

“We see this as a fantastic way of linking the two together so that youngsters can have access to good-quality advice on what careers are like and what sort of courses to take.

“It is a phenomenal tool to help career development among people of all ages.”

Another company interested in getting involved with Horsesmouth is Microsoft, which has become a development partner, providing business and IT support, and is in talks about providing some of its employees to advise on IT matters.

Claire O’Halloran, head of next-generation partnerships at Microsoft, said: “We are always looking to invest in initiatives and programmes that will encourage enterprise and innovation, and this is one of those. We think that mentoring and providing business support, advice and guidance is as important as providing great technology.

“At Microsoft we want to invest in partnerships that will encourage people to consider a career in enterprise and IT,” said O’Halloran.

“We are also keen for people to understand how technology is an enabler, and I think the web is giving people a great opportunity to start and grow profitable businesses.”

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