National Veterans Small Business Week Celebrated This Week

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is hosting National Veterans Small Business Week from November 1-5, 2021. The goal of this event is to support close to 1.8 million veteran-owned small businesses through the SBA’s 22 Veterans Business Outreach Centers.

SBA Marks National Veterans Small Business Week

Veterans make up around one in 10 of all small business owners in the U.S. They also employ nearly 4 million people generate close to $1 trillion annually. And the SBA wants to continue supporting these entrepreneurs while encouraging more veterans to start their own business.

As SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, said, “The SBA team is committed to providing the capital, marketplace opportunities and supportive network of Veterans Business Outreach Centers so that our veterans and military spouses can continue to do what they do best – face hardships head-on to build, innovate, and adapt their businesses to survive and thrive.”

The Office of Veterans Development is hosting the week-long event covering transition assistance, entrepreneurial training, government contracting, disaster assistance, and access to capital resources. The office works with the SBA through its resource partner networks which include Small Business Development Centers, SCORE, Women’s Business Centers, and 22 Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC) located throughout the nation.

Additionally, the VBOCs host the “Boots to Business” and “Boots to Business Reboot” programs, which provide courses on entrepreneurship on military installations and in local communities. The program has trained and graduated more than 143,955 service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses since its inception in 2013.

The activities for the week are going to be hosted by the SBA district office, resource partners, and local organizations across the country. This will take place in hybrid in-person and virtual formats. By highlighting the different small business ownership journey veterans face, the event looks to find solutions they can use with real-world applications.

Helping Veterans

Helping veterans not only provides opportunities for people that have served their country, but they can continue to serve their communities by employing local workforces while contributing to the overall economy.

Representative and former Army Ranger Jason Crow (CO-6), put it best when he said, “Our service members have our backs; it’s our responsibility to have their backs, too. That means ensuring veterans have the tools and resources they need to build and run a small business.”

You can go to sba.gov/nvsbw to find National Veterans Small Business Week activities in your area.

You can go to www.sba.gov/veterans for more information on the resources available for veteran entrepreneurs.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "National Veterans Small Business Week Celebrated This Week" was first published on Small Business Trends