What Help to Grow Mentor Programme does

The Help to Grow Mentor Programme is part of Business.gov.uk, a UK Government portal operated by the Department for Business and Trade. It provides free, government-backed advice and guidance to UK pre-start and early-stage businesses, covering business planning, identity and branding, funding options (including government-backed Start Up Loans of £500–£25,000), registration with Companies House and HMRC, tax compliance, insurance, licensing, data protection, and premises selection. The underlying platform is a content-driven web portal with a postcode-based matcher that routes users to local one-to-one advisors, funding opportunities, and trade associations, plus a Business Academy offering free expert-led live and on-demand events. The portal has expanded to include exporting support and inbound investment guidance for international businesses expanding into the UK, organised across four top-level verticals: starting a business, running and growing a business, selling overseas from the UK, and expanding into the UK.

The business model is wholly non-commercial. The service is free to end users with no pricing, no apps, no public API, and no disclosed revenue. It is funded by HM Government as a public service and operates exclusively within the United Kingdom. There is no management team, no headcount, no funding rounds, and no disclosed operating budget in the source material. The customer base is a horizontal long-tail of UK SMBs and prospective entrepreneurs, with no named enterprise customers, no partnerships, and no technology integrations documented.

Name

Help to Grow Mentor Programme

Legal name

UK Department for Business and Trade

Website

https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Help to Grow Mentor Programme is a UK government-backed free service, part of Business.gov.uk, that provides advice, local advisor matching, and funding guidance to UK pre-start and early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Business Support Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Career Coaching, Mentoring & Placement Support Services (EDAAAKAO)

Keywords

• Government business support
• Business mentoring programme
• Startup guidance services
• SME advisory services
• Business funding advice

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Help to Grow Mentor Programme provides free, government-backed one-to-one mentoring and guidance to UK entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them start, run, and grow their businesses. It is delivered through the Business.gov.uk portal, which pairs users with local advisors based on postcode, surfaces funding opportunities, and connects users with relevant trade associations.

Product overview

Help to Grow Mentor Programme is part of the UK government's Business.gov.uk initiative, which provides free, government-backed advice and guidance to help businesses start and grow. The programme offers support including free one-to-one advice in local areas, funding opportunities, and trade association connections. The broader Business.gov.uk platform encompasses resources for starting a business, running and growing a business, selling overseas, and international expansion into the UK, along with the Business Academy for free expert-led events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Help to Grow Mentor Programme Free one-to-one business mentoring and guidance for UK entrepreneurs and small business owners covering pre-start planning, validation, business structure selection, registration, funding applications, compliance, and growth strategy.
• Business Academy Free expert-led events for businesses, available live or on-demand, covering topics relevant to starting, running, and growing a UK business.
• Business.gov.uk Postcode Support Finder Personalized support finder that matches UK users with free one-to-one local advice, funding opportunities for new businesses, and relevant trade associations based on postcode and business type.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): US SBA-funded network providing free business advisory and training to SMBs; structurally analogous government-backed business support network operating across US states.
• SCORE: US-based nonprofit providing free business mentoring and education to entrepreneurs; directly comparable model (free mentor matching) operating in a different geography.

Direct peers

• Enterprise Nation: UK SMB support platform offering mentoring, events, and resources to small business owners; the closest private-sector competitor in the SME advisory and content space.
• Prince's Trust: UK charity supporting young people to start businesses through funding and mentoring, comparable as a free mentoring/entrepreneurship programme with a narrower demographic focus.
• Start Up Loans: UK Government-backed programme providing loans and mentoring to early-stage entrepreneurs, directly overlapping with Help to Grow's pre-start and funding-advisory support for new UK businesses.
• British Business Bank: UK Government economic development bank focused on smaller business finance, sharing the same Department for Business and Trade parentage and an overlapping funding-advisory mission for SMBs.
• Growth Hubs: UK Government-backed network of regional business support hubs offering advice and connections for SMBs; directly comparable regional/local business support offering sharing policy objectives.
• Be the Business: UK-focused nonprofit helping SMBs improve productivity through mentoring, benchmarking, and peer networks; directly comparable in target market and mentoring-led delivery model.

Broad incumbents

• Federation of Small Businesses (FSB): UK's leading membership organisation for SMBs, providing advice, templates, and policy advocacy; a broader incumbent in the same small-business support space with a wider commercial remit.
• British Chambers of Commerce: National network of accredited Chambers providing business advice, training, and international trade support to UK SMBs, overlapping with Help to Grow's broader business support remit.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/help-to-grow-mentor-programme

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Help to Grow Mentor Programme