Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman , head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for America’s 33 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, announced the awarding of $300,000 in funding to four organizations to deliver existing training programs through the SBA’s Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program.
“Our veterans and military families are an important source of America’s entrepreneurial strength, bringing leadership experience, a spirit of service, and their can-do attitude to everything they undertake,” said Administrator Guzman. “Helping America’s service-connected entrepreneurs is not only the right thing to do, it also helps create jobs and powers our innovation economy and global competitiveness. Through our Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program, the SBA is giving our existing training programs a boost to better serve and support these dedicated, mission-driven entrepreneurs.”
The funding opportunity, offered by SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development, supports each organization’s programs for service-disabled veterans planning to start a new business or expand and diversify existing small businesses. Each awardee was chosen based on their demonstrated history of, and commitment to providing training programs and resources to service-disabled veterans.
Awardees are as follows:
· Warrior Rising (South Jordan, Utah) – $105,000
Warrior Rising is a nonprofit dedicated to training, educating, and supporting veteran entrepreneurs. Since its inception, Warrior Rising has trained over 5,400 veteran-owned businesses through a robust 40-lesson educational curriculum. The program is designed to be delivered online or at locations with appropriate access for those who are disabled. The instructors have experience working with those experiencing PTSD or other service-related disabilities by employing service-disabled veterans to work for Warrior Rising and assist with the counseling process.
· Veteran Entrepreneurial Training and Resource Network (Norton, Massachusetts) – $65,000
The Veteran Entrepreneurial Training and Resource Network (VETRN) focuses on areas that are vital to small business success, including financial management, cash flow, how to manage through a financial crisis, sales and marketing, human resource management, networking, accessing capital, and government contracting. In addition, each participant is assigned a mentor. Participants emerge with either successful growth-oriented business strategies or 12-month turnaround plans, after having completed over 100 hours of combined peer-to-peer mentoring, work assignments, and classroom training.
· Oklahoma State University (Sweetwater, Oklahoma) – $75,000
The Veteran Entrepreneurship Program (VEP) offers a unique, highly innovative training program built around hands-on learning and personalized interaction to foster the creation of successful, profitable ventures. The program provides opportunities to develop entrepreneurial ideas while also learning leading-edge concepts, tools, and frameworks. Most importantly, VEP participants will learn how to apply these principles and tools to current or potential businesses.
· St. Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) – $55,000
Saint Joseph’s University’s program is designed to provide the tools, education, and mentoring necessary for post-9/11 disabled veterans to start or grow their businesses. These programs have provided over 200 veterans with the confidence, background, skills, and awareness of the small business ecosystem to successfully evaluate their business venture and grow it according to their ultimate aspirations.
The SBA will celebrate service-disabled veterans, and all-era veterans, service members, and military spouses during National Veterans Small Business Week, Oct. 31 – Nov. 4, 2022. For more information, visit www.sba.gov/nvbsw.
To learn more about SBA’s programs for veterans, visit www.sba.gov/veterans.