Centennial as a Mentor

I am very proud of Centennial’s role in the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé program and I want to share our successes with you. We have participated in the program since 2001 with two separate 8(a) businesses, Sentinel Industries and North Island, both Alaskan Native Corporations (ANC). Congress and the SBA created the Mentor Protégé program to allow large businesses to help small disadvantaged businesses prepare for and begin to contract with the federal government on their own.

Our first protégé, Sentinel Industries is owned by the MTNT, Ltd. Today MTNT has created a holding company and is performing work directly for the US government through multiple contracts across the nation. The training and processes they received from Centennial, combined with successful joint venture contracts, have allowed them to invest and build a complete corporate infrastructure necessary to bid, manage and execute construction work themselves. Their greatest asset today is the past performance portfolio built over many years through the Mentor-Protégé program performing complex construction joint venture contracts managing multiple small projects simultaneously.

Our current protégé, North Island is majority owned by a different ANC, the NIMA Corporation. North Island, only a few years into the 8(a) program, has already developed a team of construction professionals and is performing work directly for the US government and pursuing large specialty projects outside of the 8(a) program by themselves. The NIMA Board has graciously invited Centennial to participate in their village corporation strategic planning sessions for the past two years to ensure that we are aware of and assisting them in achieving their long term business objectives. Their growth and development continues as they invest the profits from our joint ventures into their corporate structure.

I have had the honor and privilege to travel to the villages of McGrath, Nikolai and Mekoryuk (population 360, 88 and 210 respectively) over the past several years to personally see and understand the needs of the shareholders of both village corporations. On my first visit I inquired as to what Centennial could do best to assist the village corporation. Very quickly one shareholder told me that what they wanted was the opportunity to remain in the village of their ancestors and continue their subsistence lifestyle – an answer I was not expecting. Today I fully understand – and truly envy their sense of family and community in all aspects of their lives… I believe that some of these villages would not be able to survive in the future without a successful village corporation to support their culture and financial needs. The Chairman of the Board of each village corporation has personally told me that their successes would not have been possible without the ANC program and Centennial’s role as a Mentor. Our Centennial employees can take tremendous pride in being an integral part of preserving the tribal villages in Alaska.

Best regards,
Mark