l-r Moderator Judy Brooks,  panelists Kevin McElroy, Katie  Reiach, and Yuri Fulmer;  photo 250News

Prince George, B.C.  –  There is now a new opportunity for female entrepreneurs to  get help in growing their businesses.

The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs has  entered a partnership with Northern Development Initiative Trust  to  offer mentorship to 25 women from central and northern B.C.

The announcement was made  at the  Forum for Women Entrepreneurs  session held  at the Ramada Hotel   yesterday.

The women will be  matched with a mentor, and will  have that relationship for one year.

Normally this program would cost 500 dollars a year  for each participant,  but Northern Development Initiative Trust is  subsidizing the cost,  so each  participant will only have to pay  one hundred dollars  for one full year  of mentorship.

Applications are  now open.   The program is not only looking for  female entrepreneurs,  but  people who can take on the role as a mentor.

Pairs will start meeting  in January  by phone or by skype.

“When  we decided to partner with  FWE, we wanted to make sure there was a legacy left behind” said Renata King, Director of Business Development for  NDI Trust. “It’s not an event,  this is about  business development and growing your own business and that’s not a single event,  it’s a process.”  King says the NDI Trust “wants to make sure these things stick”.  She says being an entrepreneur can be “a lonely business” and mentorship  offers many things, “It provides a sounding board, it provides feedback, it provides risk management, sometimes you have  crazy ideas and you  need to run it by  somebody, but it also provides accountability. As an entrepreneur you can do things, but you can also put things off, so when you  have a mentor, part of it is to keep you  accountable for the things you promised to do at the last meeting.”

King says the mentorship program is not meant to be  exclusive,  as there are man other  programs available  “If you’re a male  entrepreneur we don’t want you to feel it’s all about the women, so  MentorshipBC  is a website created by the Province with all  of the mentorship programs that are  available to entrepreneurs across British Columbia,  so if you are a male, saying ‘what about me?’ there are other organizations.”

Applications are now  being accepted Deadline to apply is November 30th, 2015. For more information on the program and to apply as a Mentee or Mentor, please visit fwe.ca/mentor-program-north