Passing on business knowledge gained from decades of experience to small-business owners and entrepreneurs is the central mission of the volunteers at SCORE Westchester, based in White Plains. The organization was founded as a local chapter of the national SCORE network 37 years ago. According to Natasha Roukos, chairman of SCORE Westchester, 40 active volunteers offer free group and one-on-one mentoring sessions, as well as more than 100 free business workshops, every year. The all-volunteer organization consists of men and women with 20 to 35 years of business experience, many of whom are retired.
SCORE volunteers generally work anywhere from six hours a week to eight hours a day. In addition to mentors, Roukos says that SCORE also needs volunteers for office work, editors and writers, and workshop organizers, marketers, and grant writers.
“The collective experience of our volunteers is amazing,” says Roukos. “We have people who worked at very high positions with companies. It’s a great environment for people to connect with each other.”
Drew George worked on Wall Street for 20 years before deciding to start his own food business two years ago. The 50-year-old Larchmont resident is the youngest SCORE volunteer mentor. “It’s a lot of fun to live through the process of starting a business again,” he says.
Get Started: Visit www.scorewestchester.com/what-is-score for more information. Mentors should have expertise in at least one business area. There is no minimum time requirement and no training is required.
Similar Ops: Consider joining the Business Mentor NY program, an initiative of the Empire State Development Agency.
