Minnesota agency hosting event to help ‘Somali small business owners’ obtain government contracts

Minnesota state government is hosting a free event that will help Somali business owners compete for government contracts. The event, called “Pathways to Partnership: Opening Doors for Somali Entrepreneurs,” is slated to take place next week.

According to the Minnesota Department of Administration (MDA), the event is being put on by the MDA’s Office of Equity in Procurement in partnership with Ramsey County, Hennepin County, and the University of Minnesota’s Office for Supplier Diversity.

Those entities will meet with Somali-owned businesses and discuss how the businesses can compete for government contracts and work with local governments. Additionally, vendors already working with the aforementioned entities will speak with event participants.

“The goal of this event is to help businesses better understand how these entities buy what they need, and how these resources can help Somali-owned businesses better position themselves to successfully compete for contracts and grow their business,” says MDA.

Billed as a “Networking Day for Somali small business owners,” the event comes at a time when Minnesota has seen an avalanche of fraud perpetrated by the Somali community.

Over the last three years, 75 people have been charged in connection with the $300 million Feeding Our Future scheme that saw fraudsters steal from a federal nutrition program. To date, over 50 people have either been convicted or pleaded guilty.

The vast majority of those charged and convicted in the Feeding Our Future scheme are from the Somali community.

In that scheme, fraudsters used businesses and shell corporations to claim they were providing millions of meals to hungry children at food distribution sites. In exchange, the businesses received reimbursements from a federal child nutrition program via the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future.

However, investigators have since discovered that fraudsters did not provide the meals they claimed and Feeding Our Future was in on the scheme. In many cases, fraudsters gave out few, if any, meals and claimed they provided meals in numbers that were not possible.

Those convicted in the scheme used federal funds to purchase U.S. real estate, overseas property, luxury cars, and other items.

Luke Sprinkel

Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.