SME owners have to address various problems in their daily work, most of the time without any guidance or assistance from specialists. The PLATO method, designed in Belgium around 1990, offers an informal coaching and mentoring platform to support SME owners in their decision-making processes: the PLATO learning networks train major companies to accompany SMEs in their development and organise monthly discussion meetings in small groups of SMEs. Successfully implemented in various countries over the 2000s, PLATO has been tested for the first time on the Southern Mediterranean rim within the Invest in Med project. The organisers have first selected and trained six representatives from multinational companies (such as Unilever Mashreq or Bavarian Auto Group) to be mentors. 20 monthly meetings between mentors and SME managers were then carried out in Alexandria and Cairo, offering the opportunity to discuss confidentially the problems they were facing, and to exchange on possible solutions. This initiative also encouraged international between Belgian and Egyptian companies.