Move to close NMC-BDC to be probed

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes yesterday expressed concern over an attempt by the former chief of the Business Development Center of the Northern Marianas College to press closure of the office, saying he would investigate into the move he described as “suspicious.”

“I’m very upset about Jack Peters plans to close the CNMI Business Development Center,” he said in a news release. “I was shocked to learn about it.”

Reyes made the statement following reports that the former NMC-BDC director intends to close the center six months after his departure. Peters resigned to become director of the Pacific Islands Small Business Development Center Network at the University of Guam.

According to Reyes, a meeting was held in the Governors office on Oct. 29 by Peters and Ken Lujan, Guam’s SBA Projects Manager, to convince Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio on closing the Center and moving it under the Commonwealth Development Authority.

“This was a non-publicized meeting to place the Center under CDA, which would be a conflict of interest, ” Reyes explained. “You would have CDA helping loan applicants to prepare the loan package that would then be given to CDA for approval. There’s something seriously wrong with this arrangement and I intend to find out what it is.”

“I also find it strange that Jack would want to close the Center he headed for five years, and especially right after his involvement with the OIA-funded Economic Study that was coordinated by Jack at the NMC Business Development Center,” he said.

“To me, this looks awfully suspicious that Jack is trying to fire the current staff and hire all their replacements from off-island. Something fishy is going on here,” Reyes said.

The NMC-BDC was started in 1989 when the College converted the abandoned hospital warehouse into a business incubator. It was functioning for over six years before Peters took over in 1994, and it is the oldest Small Business Development Center in Micronesia.

According to the last annual report prepared by Peters, the Center serves over 150 clients per year and this year, 21 training sessions were conducted with 526 people attending from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

In addition to the group training sessions and one-onone business counseling, the center coordinated the $200,000 OIA-funded Economic Conference held in March, and the recently completed Economic Study.

If Peters’ proposal to hire all new counselors from off-island, who will have no knowledge of the CNMI economic situation, it could take between six to 12 months to see it fully functioning.

Meanwhile, there would be many individuals not being served, and getting the assistance they need to start a business, or keep their existing business running, according to the news release.