They’re former bankers, certified public accountants and business owners.

And while they may be retired, they’re not finished with the business world yet.

At Southwest Louisiana’s SCORE chapter, 13 mentors — retired or semi-retired business executives — provide free consulting services for startups and other small businesses out of their offices at the SEED Center.

“SCORE lets me stay involved in the business world and use the knowledge I’ve acquired to help people,” SCORE mentor and retired CPA Dick Casiday said.

Businesses come to SCORE at various stages of development, assistant state director Paul Arnold said. Around 60 percent are largely conceptual, and founders need guidance developing business plans, forming LLCs, narrowing target markets and hammering out one- or three-year financial projections.

Others have been around longer and need help sorting through tax issues or planning for franchising or other growth.

In the 2017 first fiscal quarter, SCORE assisted 42 businesses, Arnold said.

Mentors are paired with clients according to their professional backgrounds.

Adam McBride, former director of the port of Lake Charles, uses his business management to help new companies structure their business plans.

When other businesses come looking for financial advice or need help establishing their bookkeeping practices, Casiday uses his 47 years of accounting experience to guide them through the process.

Over his five years in SCORE, Casiday estimates he’s worked with 25-30 clients.

The 13 mentors first completed an online training program covering administrative best practices and ethical issues that may arise in SCORE consulting. All clients are kept confidential, and any mentors still working part time can’t use their consulting sessions to peddle their own companies’ services.

Once trained, the mentors meet monthly, in addition to their one-on-one consulting with client businesses.

Arnold said one mentor, a retired construction company owner, helps up-and-coming businesses interested contracting or real estate. Another mentor, who worked as a state purchasing agent in Baton Rouge, works with companies who need to secure government contracts.

SCORE is celebrating National Small Business Week, which started Sunday. The national organization is hosting daily webinars at www.score.org all week on business strategies and the general economic climate.

SCORE’s services, though, last year-round.

“I’ve been involved in the business community for many years, and it can a challenging process,” McBride said. “There’s satisfaction in helping others through it.”