There are always rays of light even in challenging times. It is fantastic to see so many mentors signing up for Next-Up's 500 mentors campaign, supported by Leeds City Council.
Anyone in a leadership or ownership position – entrepreneur, business leader or leading a public sector or voluntary organisation – has a vast amount to cope with in this pandemic.
Next-Up organised an inspirational workshop for partners coming up to retirement. Part of this was mentoring tech entrepreneurs – hear this next generation say how it helped them. And what did the partners think? One said, “Our country is in safe hands with these young people” and another said “I am going to help this entrepreneur – I can learn more from her than I will be able to help.”
Last week we held the first Next-Up conference. ‘Blown away’ was a phrase I kept hearing through the day. We had more than 100 seasoned professionals as delegates – people who have left or are leaving corporate life and don’t want to ‘retire’ – mixed up with young tech entrepreneurs, charities, private equity firms, headhunters and an online magazine looking for writers.