Mentor-protégé partnership proves beneficial for two area IT companies

When the profile of the Black Lives Matter movement grew in 2020, many businesses started to reach out to the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central PA. They wanted a list of Black-owned businesses in the region they could add to their lists of vendors.

But for many area Black-owned businesses, those calls didn’t lead to long-term relationships with larger companies, and many continue to struggle thanks to the pandemic, said Leland Nelson, the chamber’s president.

Two years ago, Nelson revived his own business, Harrisburg-based management consulting and IT staff augmentation firm Think Tank Consulting, thanks to a mentor-protégé agreement with Method3, another company in the IT staffing space.

Lifting up Black-owned businesses through mentorship agreements could be the answer for how the business community can better impact small diverse businesses in their region while also fulfilling diversity requirements, said Nelson.

Revival through mentorship

Nelson founded Think Tank in 2008 to hold scheduling software he built for his junk hauling company, Dirty Dog Hauling. While the original plan was to sell Think Tank’s software as a service, the company didn’t have the resources and kept the product internal.

The company was temporarily shelved as Nelson went back to school for his MBA in business administration from Penn State Harrisburg. During that time, he joined Method3 as its engagement manager in 2018.

Wormleysburg-based Method3, was founded in 1998 and focused on management consulting and IT services. During his time with Method3, Nelson made it known that he was interested in reviving his business. Method3 saw an opportunity to help Think Tank get off the ground through a mentor-protégé agreement.

“Leland mentioned he had Think Tank Consulting– it hadn’t progressed and was lying dormant,” said Bob Spoljaric, Method3’s COO. “We had a mutual agreement that it was a good time to resurrect that business and try to build it to have an impact in those places that were interested in hitting diversity and inclusion goals.”

The two companies formed a contract using the U.S. Small Business Administration’s SBA Mentor-Protégé Program as the framework. The program helps small businesses, known as protégés, gain capacity and win government contracts through partnerships with experienced companies, or mentors.

Nelson finished his MBA and retooled Think Tank from a software company to a management consulting firm. Think Tank specializes in implementing automated software known as Robotic Process Automation, or RPA. With RPA software, Think Tank can provide a company with a software robot that can do repetitive tasks such as answering specific questions for clients, or reading and evaluating resumes.

The two companies mostly overlap in services so any customer of Method3 could also be a customer of Think Tank, said Spoljaric. That sharing of the same product made the companies a good fit for one another, Nelson said.

Through their collaborative agreement, Method3 helps Think Tank with business strategy, financing, accounting and sales strategy. The company’s services, such as staffing, project management and recruitment solutions, are also available to Think Tank.

The partnership gives Method3 the ability to give clients with diverse IT staff through Nelson’s pool of hires. By partnering with a state-certified diverse business, Method3 also has an opportunity to bid for projects with diversity mandates, Nelson said.

“Partnering gives you that security blanket to find opportunities together,” he said. “Some Federal contracts require you to have diverse businesses on contract. We fill that void.”

The two businesses plan to continue the partnership for the long-term to hit the goals set aside in the contract.

Currently Method3 and Think Tank see themselves as separate entities, but Spoljaric said there could be an opportunity to fold them together if it made sense operationally.

“We have had both companies operationally focused in different tech arenas,” he said.

For companies interested in bringing on a protégé business, the agreement can provide a board of advisers feel, but with parties that are each coming to the table with stakes in the businesses, Spoljaric said.

It can also provide a business with new and diverse voices.

“Method 3 was open to diversifying their partnership,” said Nelson. “It was great alignment and it made sense. I think more companies should do that. Have the willingness to reach out and say it’s good business and it’s the right thing to do.”