Women entrepreneurs who are ready to move their business forward have through April 3 to apply to participate in a six-month-long mentorship program.

The 2015 Women’s Mentorship Program is sponsored by LiftFund, formerly Accion Texas. This is its second year.

As with last year’s program, LiftFund will select 10 women entrepreneurs and pair them with 10 mentors. The program begins in May. Both prospective mentors and women seeking mentors must apply.

Mentees will be announced April 15, and mentors will be announced on April 30. The program begins on May 5 and continues through Oct. 6.

The program’s mentors will provide feedback and guidance to help entrepreneurs improve and grow their business. Its workshops include training sessions led by experts that touch on a range from topics, from marketing and personal branding to financial growth strategies and life-work balance.

“For a lot of the women entrepreneurs that we attract, this is the first time they’ve had a mentor,” said Margot Fuentes, business advisor at LiftFund. “Most are past the startup phase, and they’re trying to refine their processes. Now they need to work on scaling the business. They’ll learn from other business owners how to do that successfully.”

For the program’s workshops, “we bring in expert speakers and panelists to give participants additional tools and insights that they can take back to their own businesses,” Fuentes said.

The twice-a-month sessions will be held at Café Commerce at the Central Library, 600 Soledad St.

“In between, we encourage mentees to meet with their mentors,” Fuentes said. “We require that (mentors) commit to meeting three hours a month during the six-month program.”

Alma Johnson, owner of Training Wheels Learning Center, participated in last year’s program.

“It was actually life-changing for me,” said the day care center operator. “It gave me everything I needed to succeed. If I could take it again, I would. The networking and the speakers that they had were helpful. If you had questions, they took time to answer them. They were there to help you succeed.”

Johnson said her mentor, a retired owner of day care centers, schooled her on the importance of building a strong staff. The mentor suggested praising employees when they did well, but also evaluating employees every 30 days.

And Johnson employed another of her mentor’s suggestions: Taking employees out for a monthly lunch to talk about the business. “It really helped,” Johnson said. “A lot of time, employers don’t talk to their staff. With the lunches, now we all are on the same page.”

Johnson said that during last year’s class, she was getting ready to open her second location. Now, with enrollment increasing, she’s planning to open a third location by early April.

Sunita Trevino, owner of Brain Coach Consulting, was a mentor in last year’s program, and found that mentoring is a two-way street.

“Mentors get ideas and they’re stimulated” by meeting with less established business owners, she said.“For me as a mentor to be able to give and see my skills be of use, that makes me fall in love with my business more than ever.”

Cynthia Lopez, a former teacher in bilingual education in Dallas, already had launched an educational consulting business in San Antonio, Bilingual Station, when she was chosen to join last year’s program.

As a teacher, she often couldn’t find the right kinds of material for her students and there wasn’t a center clearinghouse for such materials. So she started Bilingual Station to provide consulting and to be a source for bilingual teaching materials. She was at the point that she was looking to grow the business.

Last year, Lopez was paired with Sybel Lopez Pici, the retired owner of McDonald’s restaurants in the area and a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

“I didn’t think it was a great pairing, but it was,” Lopez said. “We had so many similarities, and we just connected. When she heard my idea, she didn’t think I was crazy.”

Lopez said that she plans to change the name of her business soon to Dual Language Central. She’s adding translation services and language classes for adults.

Lopez said she liked the fact that not all of the mentorship program’s workshops were strictly about business management. One touched on stress relief and yoga. “That was awesome,” Lopez said. “You need that to keep you going and keep you healthy.”

The 2015 group will get started with an orientation and a mixer set for May 5.

vvaughan@express-news.net