District director and volunteers find success and satisfaction as mentors
Mark Cutler
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During his 30-plus-year career at The Gillette Company – where he spent half his career outside the U.S. expanding the shaving giant’s footprint in international markets from Russia to China to India – Mark Cutler developed a passion for commercialization and a greater appreciation for entrepreneurship. “Growing a new business geographically requires a lot of entrepreneurial skills to make it happen,” said Cutler, who retired from Gillette in 2003.
Today, as the regional vice president of New York and New England for SCORE, a small business volunteer mentoring program run in partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA), Cutler and a statewide network of more than 400 volunteers – across seven SCORE chapters in Connecticut – provide advice and guidance to help small businesses succeed.
“It’s my way of giving back,” said Cutler, who has volunteered with SCORE for the past nine years and supports, he estimates, nearly 40 clients, including a fifth-generation farm and a Middletown-based dental practice that were awarded 2019 Small Business Awards through SBA.
SCORE has served as “America’s premier source of free business mentoring and education for 55 years,” according to its website (score.org), assisting more than 11 million entrepreneurs since 1964.
Cutler said the needs of small businesses can be diverse, but noted that SCORE’s comprehensive resources cover the gamut, including assistance with business planning, human resources, finance and capital needs, marketing and social media, and legal advice. In fact, SCORE hosted more than 420 workshops across Connecticut last year alone, reaching more than 11,000 attendees.
And the support is making an impact. Cutler said nationally, 67% of clients credit SCORE volunteers with being a critical part of their business success and more than 85% of SCORE-supported business saw an increase in revenue in 2018. It’s a trend that Cutler hopes inspires more volunteers to get involved in Connecticut. “Many volunteers, who range in age from 25 to 80, volunteer between 20 and 40 hours per month to help small business,” he said.
Cutler also hopes to attract more women and minority volunteers to the program, to better reflect the growing demographics of SCORE’s client base, which includes 61% female owned, 36% minority-owned and 11% veteran owned small businesses.
“Each business comes to [SCORE] for a particular reason,” Cutler said. “It’s not about us telling them what to do but helping them discover and learn.”
There is no time limit for support, he notes. Cutler has advised some clients, he said, for nearly a decade.
“I like to help a business think about its goals and [address] what’s holding them back,’ he said. “That’s what I find most fulfilling.”
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