Abstract
M.Comm.
Business Partners Limited is a specialist investment group providing customised and integrated investment, mentorship and property management services to small and medium enterprises in South Africa. The vision of Business Partners Limited is to be a word class, added-value investor in small and medium enterprises, facilitating wealth generation, job creation and economic development in South Africa.
One of the major challenges in South Africa is the shortage of skills and the efforts and expertise required to address this problem. Government had introduced various new legislation to address this problem since 1994. However, the focus is mainly on the workplace and does not fully address the issues of training entrepreneurs in business skills and knowledge.
The South African educational system is currently failing to equip learners with the necessary skills to start and run a business successfully. The entry of entrepreneurs who lack the necessary skills and knowledge increases the risk of business failures.
Mentorship, being a reasonably protected relationship, and situation where learning takes place, is one of the interventions by which the issue of skills transfer can take place and where progress can be monitored.
The study focused on the extent to which mentorship plays a role in the transfer of business and management skills in a business environment.