SBA Helps Veterans Start, Grow and Expand Small
Businesses
Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Disabled Veterans Expands
to Eighth School
Release Date:
November 9, 2011
Contact: Dennis
Byrne (202) 205-6567
Release Number: 11-63
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
WASHINGTON – With thousands of service men and women
returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Small Business Administration
is welcoming them home with programs and initiatives to help them start, grow
and expand their businesses.
“Around Veterans Day, our thoughts turn to the men and
women who are serving or have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to all
who have made sacrifices and served our country in the armed forces,” SBA
Administrator Karen Mills said. “When you consider the leadership and
management skills our veterans develop while on active and reserve duty, it’s
no wonder we see so many of them choose a path as entrepreneurs and small
business owners.”
SBA provides
veterans access to much needed business counseling and training, capital and
business development opportunities through government contracts.
Those products and programs include:
Entrepreneurial Development
SBA and Syracuse University are expanding the successful
Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) program to an
eighth school, Cornell University. The growing partnership between SBA and
Syracuse University, now in its third year, provides training on how they can
start and grow a small business with programs targeted to service-disabled
veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their family caregivers, women
veterans, and National Guard and Reserve members and their families.
The “boot camp” was created and delivered by a network of
some of the best business schools in the country. Last year, the first year SBA
partnered with Syracuse University, 129 service-disabled veterans participated
in the program.
Since the program’s inception, more than 320 wounded
warriors have graduated and more than 150 businesses have been launched by
graduates. Participating schools
include: Syracuse University, University of Connecticut, UCLA, Florida State
University, Texas A&M University, Purdue University, Louisiana State
University, and Cornell University.
SBA is also providing $2.6 million through a cooperative
agreement over three years for two new programs supporting veteran
entrepreneurs.
The first, Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of
Entrepreneurship (V-WISE), focuses on training, networking and mentorship for
women veterans. The three-day, off-site training
program, online training and network support structures
are delivered in several locations around the nation, and anticipates serving
up to 1,400 female veterans over a 36-month period.
The second, Operation Endure & Grow, targets National
Guard and Reserve Component members, their families and partners. The goal of
this program is to mitigate the small business economic hardship of deployed
members and their families. The eight-week online course focuses on the
fundamentals of launching and/or growing a small business for those who will
sustain the business when the service member is deployed, injured or killed.
Initially, 550 individuals are expected to participate. Together, V-WISE and
Operation Endure & Grow are expected to serve over 1,950 individuals and
their families over three years.
Access to Capital
SBA had a near record year lending to veteran-owned small
businesses in fiscal year 2011. SBA lending to veterans in fiscal year 2011
amounted to more than 4,300 loans totaling $1.5 billion in its flagship 7(a)
and 504 programs. Since 2007, SBA’s Patriot Express loan pilot initiative alone
has guaranteed loans of more than $667 million to nearly 8,100 veterans,
reservists and their spouses to establish or expand their small businesses. The
initiative, extended through 2013, provided more than 1,560 loans totaling $142
million in fiscal year 2011. Patriot Express is offered by SBA’s network of
participating lenders nationwide and features one of SBA’s fastest turnaround
times for loan approvals.
Government Contracting
SBA worked with both contracting officers and
veteran-owned small businesses to deliver the highest-ever percentage of
federal contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses in FY2010,
totaling $10.4 billion. Also, through parity legislation, SBA reestablished a
level playing field for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses that compete
with other small businesses for set-aside contracts.
The Office of Veteran’s Business Development provided
SDVOSB procurement training to more than 3,000 SBVOSB’s in 2011 to help achieve
the 3 percent SDVOSB goal. The SBA is expanding its outreach to
service-disabled veterans with an online contracting tutorial to help veterans
and military spouses who own small businesses identify and take advantage of
federal contracting opportunities.
Task Force Report
SBA chairs the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small
Business Development focused on improving and expanding opportunities for
veteran business owners. The Task
Force recently issued its first Report to the President and included 18
recommendations to increase access to capital, improve business development
opportunities, and meet federal contracting goals for veteran-owned small
businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. You can read
the whole report here.
SBA reaches out to veterans through its 68 SBA district
offices, 15 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide, more than 1,000
Small Business Development Centers, 110 Women’s Business Centers and some
12,000 SCORE volunteers. SBA also has numerous programs creating government
contracting opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses. For more
information, visit www.sba.gov/vets and www.sba.gov/reservists.
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