When you are at the very front of your organisation it can be difficult to admit that you might be out of your depth in certain areas, or that you may need to talk things through with someone you can trust.

Finding someone like this when the need arises can be quite difficult.

Having a mentor provides you with an outlet valve and someone you can turn to in these situations. You have the opportunity to simply bounce ideas and speak frankly about existing problems to someone you can trust completely, without the need to be defensive or concerned about what they will think or how will this affect my image.

Finding the right mentor is extremely difficult and not a task to be taken on casually. You need to know that the person you entrust to act as your mentor has the experience, understanding and ability to guide you and act as your equilibrium, helping you to deal with the many challenges that face the modern entrepreneur.

Stewart Jacobs, with in excess of 40 years experience setting up and running his own businesses as well as helping many small and medium sized enterprises to do the same, has that special combination of essential ingredients that makes a good mentor.

He has extensive, practical, hands-on experience as well as legal and accounting knowledge, which he has used to assist his many clients steering their businesses through various challenges. He has worked on company rescue, refinancing, re-structuring, MBO's, and start ups. His clients include lawyers and accountants.

He has set up and successfully sold companies he started and was a founder Director of Regus. He still has an interest in the serviced office industry and has been Managing Director of a business centre for more than 20 years. He also runs his own credit management company which has been helping businesses for over 15 years deal with cash flow management and their company finances.

He is also a consultant for overseas companies. He recently set up an office in Bucharest for an overseas client to expand into that growing market.

He has also provided services to large corporations such as GKN, American Express and The Disney Corporation.

He has a broad IT knowledge and is actively involved in creating new products and services. He has patented two products.

He was born and educated in Dublin and attended Trinity College Dublin.

Active Credit Management, Clarendon House, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Herts WD6 1AG. Telephone 020 8207 5942 Fax 020 8207 3443 Send email

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