The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that it will host the 11th annual National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW) from Nov. 11-15, 2024. This weeklong celebration will feature both in-person and virtual events across the country to honor and support veteran-owned small businesses.
SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman emphasized the importance of veteran-owned businesses.
“With nearly two million veteran-owned businesses in the United States, the SBA’s support helps these establishments innovate, create jobs, and strengthen communities – empowering them to continue to serve our democracy by advancing our economy.
“Our annual National Veterans Small Business Week is a time for communities across the nation to join us and our partners as we uplift and empower veteran-owned businesses with specialized trainings and celebrations. Betting on our veteran, service member, and military family businesses every day will always yield strong results for America,” she said in a statement from the SBA.
Guzman added that National Veterans Small Business Week offers an opportunity to empower veteran entrepreneurs through specialized trainings and celebrations.
Throughout the week, the SBA, along with its resource partners and local organizations, will highlight critical topics for veteran and military spouse small business owners. These include:
Military-to-civilian transition assistance
Entrepreneurial training
Government contracting
Disaster assistance
Access to capital resources
Information about National Veterans Small Business Week events can be found at sba.gov/nvsbw.
Key SBA Initiatives for Veterans
The SBA continues to strengthen veteran small business communities through various programs, including:
Expanding the number of Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) across the nation.
Offering no-cost or reduced-fee loan programs for veterans and their families.
Increasing loans to veteran-owned small businesses by 33% since 2020.
Providing enhanced disaster recovery support.
Simplifying the veteran business certification process through the VetCert program.
Funding veteran-focused grants.
Offering entrepreneurship training courses tailored for veterans, service members, and military families.
The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD), which hosts National Veterans Small Business Week, has been a key player in supporting veteran entrepreneurs since 2013. Programs like Boots to Business (B2B), Boots to Business Reboot, and Military Spouse Pathway to Business are some of the many courses offered to the military community. Since the launch of B2B in 2013, these programs have trained and graduated over 211,000 service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, and military spouses.
For more information on resources available to veteran entrepreneurs, visit sba.gov/veterans.
This article, “SBA to Host 11th Annual National Veterans Small Business Week Nov. 11-15” was first published on Small Business Trends