A MENTORING scheme to help small businesses in the Darlington and Teesside area is planning to expand with more volunteers.

The Business Volunteer Mentor Tees Valley has a team of experienced enterpreneurs offering advice to small businesses or people in the process of setting up a small business.

The scheme has been running for two years but has been concentrated in the Middlesbrough area.

Now co-ordinator Brenda Lillicrap is hoping to attract more businesses and volunteer mentors from Darlington and the rest of Teesside.

She said: "It is mainly for small businesses just starting up, or which have yet to reach stability. They might want to talk to their mentor about, for example, taking on their first employee.

"Other small business men and women might want to talk about the more personal side, such as balancing family and their small business commitments.

"The client and mentor agree before they start about what area they want to cover.

"At the moment, the scheme is growing slowly and solidly. What we want to do is grow as a resource for businesses throughout the whole Tees Valley area. We are not covering the area as a whole as much as we would like."

Ms Lillicrap said she was looking for people with some spare time and some experience of business to volunteer as mentors.

She said: "We are building a team of mentors so we can all support each other.

"People who might be finding retirement unfulfilling and want to be part of the business community again, those who have run a business or part of a business and are still keen on learning and developing, are the kind of people we are looking for.

"Being a mentor is a way of keeping in touch with the business community and being part of a team.

"It is a huge challenge working with another person and watching them extend their skills and confidence."

Anyone interested in the scheme can leave a message for Ms Lillicrap at Darlington Business Venture, on (01325) 289610.