Chapter Hosts Discussion of Navy's Small Business Initiatives

Jimmy Smith, director, Office of Small Business Programs, Department of the Navy, was the featured guest speaker at the chapter's distinguished speaker webinar, sponsored by MIKEL Inc, in early February.

Smith, Senior Executive Service member, is the chief advisor to the Secretary of the Navy on all small business matters. Smith provided a host of extremely beneficial information about the initiatives that his organization has taken to support small business (SB) opportunities with the Navy. He explained the structure of the ten major Naval "buy" commands. He also discussed the Navy's mentor protégé program (large industries team with SB's to assist them in becoming productive contributors to support Naval acquisition requirements), and described other initiatives designed to assist SB's in successfully doing business with the Navy.

Smith concluded by directing SB's to the Navy's SB website to learn even more about other initiatives and future plans for expanding SB outreach.

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