The UK government has launched the Get Mentoring initiative that will allow spa and beauty professionals to access free business mentoring training for themselves and their staff.

The initiative is led by the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI) and will recruit and train thousands of business mentors in the UK from the small, medium and micro business community.

Once trained they will be deployed across a range of mentoring organisations accessible via www.mentorsme.co.uk, the national web portal that provides a single point of access to mentoring services. Training will take place both online, via distance learning, as well as at hundreds of training sessions taking place around the UK in 2012.

The training takes up to seven hours, and once trained, mentors will receive a SFEDI Certificate of Recognition for completing the Introduction to Enterprise Mentoring Course, free membership of the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (IoEE) and a listing on www.mentorsme.co.uk.

The government has pledged grant funding of £1.2m for the scheme.

One of the strategic partners for the scheme is Habia, the government-approved standards setting body for the hair, beauty and spa industries.

As part of its support for te campaign, Habia will be hosting an exclusive Employers' Summit in London at the end of February.

Alan Goldsbro, Habia CEO, "Mentoring can be an extremely powerful and instructive tool for anyone running a business or thinking of running one. A good mentor can pass onto you their own knowledge and experience, giving you a vital head start."