Businesses pair up for the future: mentor-protege agreement up and running

BY MAUREEN N. MARATITA
Journal Staff

A meeting with a visiting Navy official in 2022 led to a protégé-mentor relationship in Guam.

William H. Calori, director and chief financial officer of Cabras Marine Corp. and its affiliates; was at a meeting of the board of directors of the Guam Chamber of Commerce with Jimmy D. Smith, then director of small business programs for the U.S. Department of the Navy in September 2022.

Calori told the Journal that meeting led to Cabras entering the Department of Defense’s protégé-mentor program as a mentor.

“Jimmy was our conduit,” Calori said. “Through our relationship we were able to walk through all the channels to get Cabras Marine approved.”

He said the program was not difficult, nor was it hard to get Department of the Navy approval.

Cabras has begun the program with Rhino Linings as its protégé.

“When it first came up, we weren’t sure who we would pick,” Calori said. “We were simply trying to get into the program.” Then, Rhino Linings came to mind. “We’ve utilized them in small capacities on some of our past ship repair jobs,” he said. “We’ve used them for preservation and surface coating applications.” The two also knew each other well, he said.

Byerly & Cook, which does business as Rhino Linings Guam was formed in 2005. Dylan P. Byerly, managing partner; graduated in the culinary arts in California. But he found the long hours as a chef conflicted with his aim to have a family and spend time with them. The profession has also changed for the better, Byerly said. “It wasn’t as creative as it is now.”

Byerly changed direction. “I got into the automotive industry at an auto dealership that also specialized in high end pre-owned cars, but they had an after-market division, which is customizing.” Within three months he was put in charge of the after-market side.

Rhino Linings came about in 2005. “When I was in Guam before, I noticed that we didn’t have anything like that,” Byerly said. After he and Joaquin P.L.G. Cook both moved back to Guam and decided to invest together, the pair secured a Rhino Linings for Guam and began with truck linings. “In September 2005, we went down to Australia and got the franchise rights,” he said. The business opened in June 2006, after training. Byerly said the pair were fortunate. “The licensing costs were a lot less because we got it out of Australia.”

Rhino Lining has had some unique projects. “We do a lot of flooring specialty contracts,” Byerly said. “Our flooring division has really grown.” Flooring work includes epoxy and polyurethane flooring and sports flooring. Also, the business offers industrial and commercial applications including spray-foam insulation, which it installed at the Guam Regional Medical City.

Teresa M. Watkins, owner and president of Cabras; wanted Cabras to join the program, Calori said. Joining the program requires a step process, and in early 2023 Cabras became a mentor. “Once we got our approval letter from the Department of the Navy, it took us a little over 14 months to get a final contract,” Calori said. “That contract was awarded at the end of July this year.”

The contract allowed the companies to participate in the 2024 Mentor-Protégé Summit in Detroit from July 31 to Aug. 4. “That summit is a requirement,” Calori said.

The summit proved valuable, he said. “There were a lot of sessions that were helpful to understand the program,” he said. “In terms of networking, it was great.”

Byerly said Rhino Linings was approached by Joseph L. Cruz, president of Cabras. The pairing with Cabras made sense, he said. “We were lucky because they do a lot of ship preservation, which is right up in our range of capabilities once we’re onboard and trained properly.

 “Rhino Linings and their materials really go after metal corrosion control and metal surface protection. I’m excited, because the maritime industry is not the easiest industry to get into. Companies that are already in it, have been in it for a long time and anybody new coming on board is almost like invited.”

The next part of the process was a kickoff meeting with the Navy’s small business program office, with virtual presentations about Cabras and Rhino Linings and how the two companies intended to work together to be successful.

Byerly said being a protégé is a positive. Rhino Linings is a team of five people but will grow. “We’re going to be adding additional labor for this effort,” he said. “I’m looking at two, possibly three if I can find a good candidate.” Employees will be able to focus on getting certifications, industry training “that we choose that will help me in this effort to support Cabras,” he said.

“This is a really, really good opportunity for us as a company because of the amount of capital that’s being afforded us for this training,” he said.

Calori said the ultimate intention for Cabras is to grow the ship repair capacity in Guam. The company has been involved in work force development with partners such as Guam Community College, capacity building and also making the case that Guam is the right place to repair ships, he said. “This is another part of that large effort.”

Rhino Linings will be able to contract for work with the government, he said. “They’ll have the infrastructure, the human resources capability. After this program, they’ll be a standalone self-sufficient ship repair operator in Guam.”

The program runs for a year. “There’s options to extend,” Calori said, with the potential to continue for three years.” The length of the program can depend on the speed with which the protégé progresses. It requires the companies employees to work closely together and also to show how teaching relationships will be used. “For them it’s a student relationship, an apprentice relationship,” he said. It allows for more dynamic training, he said.

Byerley said, “Any growth depends on the effort that’s put into this program and also the amount of work that’s going to be available in this region.” What is known as the Guam Detachment of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility will provide a facility and pier to enable it to be fully occupied with work on Guam’s homeported submarines in Submarine Squadron 15. Byerly anticipates work at that facility. “Whoever we put through this program — those folks are eventually going to be our foreman and our superintendent; they’re going to be our leaders for our company — our management.” He foresees growth as a protégé. “Based on our size we’re looking at somewhere in the range of a 30% growth.” But given the training and administrative work he expects growth to be relatively slow in the first year, he said.

One plus that encourages mentors is award of small business credits or the reimbursement of costs for them. 

“The way the agreement works, the Department of the Navy agrees to either to provide small business credits or to provide cost reimbursement to the mentor,” Calori said. Large companies are required to meet small business contracting thresholds, so money that they spend as a mentor doesn’t get paid back to them. They convert it to small business contracting credits that they can apply to their small business contracting thresholds, he said. “We are a small business, so we don’t have the same requirements.” For reimbursement of costs, Cabras has to document time spent on training through detailed record keeping. “A lot of that time is not fully productive,” Calori said.

However, he said, “I think we’ll continue to do this.” The Navy was encouraging Cabras to do so, he said. “And we’re being asked by the Army and other commands to bring other [businesses] under our wing as professional mentors. It’s very common to have multiple protégés.” 

Byerly said from the protégé’s perspective, “The program is tough. It’s tough to get in because trying to convince a mentor that you’re the company for them is difficult. There’s a marketing component to it.” The U.S. Small Business Administration also has a mentor protégé program. Byerly found the SBA’s program difficult due to the small size of his company. He said with Cabras, “I was very lucky because we’re sized right for each other.” mbj