Should the SBAs Mentor Protege Program Be Part of Your Federal Growth Strategy?

There was a 10-20% increase of Mentor Protege Program (MPP) relationships approved by the SBA in 2020 from 2019. For a year that had so much turmoil and uncertainty, it’s great to see that there was still an increase in applications to the program. However, there are too many companies not taking advantage of this program, considering how beneficial it can be to both potential mentors and proteges. Just a few quick thoughts / benefits on this:

  1. Past performance can be combined under a MPP Joint Venture; this allows for a smaller company to work with a larger company and utilize their past performance and capacity.

  2. Mentors can do up to 60% of the work under a MPP Joint Venture (versus the traditional 51-49% split); this is certainly an incentive for mature companies to mentor younger companies.

  3. The 8(a) MPP program merged with the All Small MPP; this makes it easier for 8(a) companies to participate in the program and other companies to mentor them.

Tommy Benz