MassMEP Signs Alliance With SBA
Rick Saia
Jack Healy, left, director of the Worcester-based Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, signs an alliance agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Next to Healy is Bob Nelson, SBA district director. At right is Seth Goodall, regional administrator for the agency.
The Worcester-based organization that helps Bay State manufacturers modernize and grow their businesses has struck an alliance with the U.S. Small Business Administration to help advance small businesses in the industry.
The alliance was announced today at the headquarters of the manufacturing group, the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, or MassMEP.
“Our partnership with MassMEP is a huge milestone for the SBA’s Massachusetts district office,” SBA District Director Bob Nelson said in a prepared statement. “With the signing of this agreement, SBA will be able to help the manufacturing community in Worcester and across the state by giving local manufacturers the tools and resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs.”
MassMEP Director Jack Healy added: “MassMEP's strength is in our partnerships and our ability to connect our partners' services to the manufacturing community. SBA services such as access to capital, business planning and export development are essential growth (programs) for our next generation of manufacturing clients.”
Before signing the agreement this morning with Nelson, Healy said the bulk of manufacturing employment in the state is with small firms.
“The small manufacturer had really (risen) to the occasion” after most larger firms either left the state or ceased operations, he said. Since 2009, Healy added, output by Bay State manufacturers has risen 5.6 percent annually, much higher than in Connecticut, where it’s increased only 1.1 percent.
Nelson said that in addition to helping boost manufacturers through SBA’s lending programs, the New England office of the federal agency can help small manufacturers improve their chances to land federal government contracts. He said the government has a goal of awarding 23 percent of its contracts for products and services to smaller firms.
MassMEP is a nonprofit organization that provides services to help manufacturers transform and grow through such initiatives that affect workforce strategies, lean training and supply chain management.
The agreement between the two organizations, called a strategic alliance memorandum, or SAM, allows both groups to work closer together to ensure manufacturers’ interests are adequately addressed in the state.
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