Entrepreneurs spend so much time inside their businesses that it can be difficult to see things objectively.

Over time, however, ways of working that once made sense can become so familiar that they are no longerquestioned. This is where an experienced outside perspective can be valuable. One of the most important things mentors bring to a business is the ability to challenge assumptions that an entrepreneur may have stopped questioning.

“Sometimes the most valuable thing someone outside the business can do is ask the question the entrepreneur has stopped asking. Why are you doing it this way? What evidence is that decision based on? And is theway you have always done something still the best way to take the business forward?” says Monique Chinnah, Senior Manager at Nedbank and judge on Nedbank Pitch & Polish.

This outside perspective can be particularly valuable when entrepreneurs are considering growth. A business may appear ready to scale because demand is increasing, but the foundations underneath that growth maynot yet be strong enough to support it. One useful test is to consider what would happen if the business achieved exactly what its founder wants.

“If orders doubled next month, for example, could the business fulfil them at the same standard, at a profit and without its founder having to personally hold everything together?” asks Chinnah.

A founder who is personally involved in the day-to-day running of a business, whether it’s approving every quote or dealing with every operational problem rather than delegating, might manage this when operatingat a smaller scale. As the business grows however, this can quickly become unsustainable. A mentor can help identify these limitations, while also challenging whether growth is the right decision in the first place.

“Entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic about the potential of their businesses, but before you start thinking about scaling, you need to establish whether there is sufficient demand beyond the customers you alreadyhave, whether people are willing to pay what you need them to pay and whether that demand can be repeated. If those assumptions haven't been properly tested, scaling simply commits more resources to a growth opportunity you haven't yet proved exists,” saysAllon Raiz, CEO of Raizcorp.

Having spent more than two decades working with entrepreneurs through different stages of building and growing their businesses, Raiz says he has seen many of the same challenges surface in different forms. Thisincludes pursuing growth before the business has the systems or financial foundations to support it. A seasoned mentor can draw on experience of similar situations to identify the questions an entrepreneur needs to consider before committing to a particularcourse of action.

“Being an impartial outsider to the business, a mentor will be able to ask, ‘how do you know this to be true?’ to help entrepreneurs interrogate their decisions and assumptions. This might reveal a very differentpicture from the one the entrepreneur has become accustomed to seeing,” says Raiz.

The value of mentorship is not necessarily in providing answers, but in helping entrepreneurs think more critically about their business. Explaining their business model, financial decisions or growth ambitionsto an outsider can expose gaps in their thinking, while a mentor can challenge assumptions, test whether decisions are evidence-based and help identify the real problem before a solution is pursued.

This principle is put into practice through Nedbank Pitch & Polish, an entrepreneurial development programme and competition sponsored by Nedbank and uMngeni-uThukela Water and powered by Raizcorp. For 16 years, the programme has helped entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses and develop the skills and confidence needed to grow. Each contestant is paired with a one-on-one mentor who provides an outsideperspective, challenges their thinking and asks the difficult questions they may not be asking themselves. By strengthening their understanding of the business and the decisions behind it, the mentorship can ultimately strengthen the pitch as well.

This kind of scrutiny is particularly important as a business grows. What works for a small business may not work at the next level. Processes need to evolve, responsibilities need to be delegated and decisionsneed to increasingly rely on systems and evidence rather than the founder's ability to personally oversee everything. Having someone experienced challenge how the business operates can help an entrepreneur identify these gaps before they become barriers togrowth.

“Ultimately, entrepreneurs need to be willing to have their thinking challenged, particularly when they are making decisions about growth. The closer you are to a business, the easier it is to become certain aboutwhat you believe the problem or opportunity to be. A good mentor brings another set of eyes and the experience to test that thinking before it becomes a decision affects the future of the business,” concludes Raiz.