According to a report released by the Small Business Administration of the United States in 2017 (FINANCING THEIR FUTURE: Veteran Entrepreneurs and Capital Access), one-tenth of the small businesses in the United States are owned by veterans, that is, in the United States, veterans own 2.5 million small businesses that generate more than $1 trillion in sales and 5 million jobs each year. This is resulted from the US government's support for veterans' entrepreneurship.
The US government provides a full range of services for veterans to set up small businesses. After revisions and adjustments, the current service system has matured and improved, as reflected in the following aspects:
Special government departments to provide administrative support for veteran entrepreneurs.
The US government has set up special departments to serve veteran entrepreneurs, and meanwhile, the branches based in states promote the implementation and advancement. There are two departments in the US federal government that are responsible for supporting the veteran entrepreneurs:
The Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU, Department of Veteran Affairs). The main function of which is to help veteran small businesses qualify and participate in government procurement contracts. It registers all small and micro enterprises established by veterans, and fully introduces the government procurement contract though online and offline platforms. At the same time, it provides relevant training on how to sign contracts, how to perform contracts, and then grants qualification certification (mainly the "Veteran-Owned Small Business，VOSB" and the " Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business， SDVOSB). The website will also publish the latest government contract bidding information. OSDBU has established several Small Business Liaison Offices across the country, responsible for the support of small businesses in the region.
The Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD). It is to promote veteran entrepreneurship through assisting veterans, disabled veterans, reservists, active servicemen, and their families to gain quick access to Small Business Administration related loan projects at low costs. Among them, the Veterans Business Outreach Program provides business plan seminars, project evaluation, mentoring and training for qualified veterans, and responsible for overseeing 23 Veterans Business Outreach Centers, VBOC. The Veterans Business Development Center is also in charge of the planning and execution of activities related to the “Veterans Entrepreneurship Week”.
Government contracts set-aside service to support small veteran enterprises.
The US government helps open the market by certifying small businesses founded by veterans and small businesses founded by service-disabled veterans to ensure that they are eligible to compete for a portion of the government procurement contracts.
The Veteran-Owned Small Business Certification (VOSB)
It has several advantages, including the access to resources from the Office of Veterans' Enterprise Development (OVBD), financing opportunities and entrepreneurship training programs. At the same time, the government rewards large companies that are willing to subcontract their government procurement contracts to veteran small businesses.
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
The US federal government has approximately $500 billion in government procurement contracts each year, and 3% of government contracts are set aside for disabled military small businesses.
In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs has a Vet First Contract Program for Veteran-owned small businesses. 7% and 10% of the purchase funds are used to purchase products from small businesses that have SDVOSB and VOSB certifications respectively.
Preferential financial services for the veteran entrepreneurs.
Veteran-owned small businesses can enjoy the exemption of application fees within a certain limit for loans under the Small Business Administration (SBA) such as SBA Express loans, SBA 7(a) loans, based on the "SBA veterans advantage program”. Even for the exceeding amount, they can enjoy discounted fees at half price.
The Small Business Administration also encourages 20 national lending partners to increase loans to veteran-owned small businesses.
All-rounded free training and mentoring services for the veteran entrepreneurs.
The government has developed a special entrepreneurship training program to support veteran entrepreneurship. At the same time, it also incorporates training into the military's plan to help veterans’ transition to civilian life.
In addition, for special groups of people, veterans who have been disabled during their service, and active servicemen as well as their families, an inclusive system of entrepreneurship training has been developed. Among which, the more representative plan is the “Boots to Business” - a free training program offered by the US Small Business Administration for active servicemen and veterans. It includes a 2-day offline course plus an 8-week online course. The main training content includes how to register a company, how to write a commercial plan, how to form an entrepreneurial group, and so on. This training is also the main training course in the Department of Defense's (DOD) Transition Assistance Program (TAP), which supports active military personnel to prepare for transition into the civil lives.
The Women Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program (WVETP) is an entrepreneurial training for female veterans, active soldiers and their female family members. The Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program (SDVETP) is an entrepreneurial training program for disabled veterans who have a business plan or are currently starting a business.
Resources docking service for entrepreneurship through platform.
The US government announced in 2014 that the week before the annual Veterans Day would be designated as the National Veteran Small Business Week, which aims to support veterans to start businesses, pool entrepreneurial resources, and promote exchanges and cooperation. In the course of the week, nearly 200 events will be held throughout the United States, mainly serving veterans, active service men and woman, and their spouses.
The National Veteran Small Business Week has diversified activities include training course promotion, veteran entrepreneurship workshops, seminars and conferences, entrepreneurship competitions, resource and job fairs, and awards for outstanding veteran entrepreneurs, opening ceremony for veterans’ companies, which all aim to promote the docking of resources, networking the veterans’ entrepreneurship, in-depth policy interpretation, using government contract advantages to enhance the competitiveness of veteran-owned small businesses; to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit of veterans.
The US government has formed a nationwide network of veterans' entrepreneurship service that is led by government, fully coordinated by the private sector, and actively involved by social organizations. For example, the "National Veteran Small Business Week" is organized with the support from the Small Business Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, US military services, Ministry of Agriculture, federal and state government departments, universities and research institutions, banks, and senators, investment institutions, well-known large enterprises, non-governmental organizations and so on.
According to a 2018 survey by the National Veteran Owned Business Association, 70% of Americans are willing to deal with veterans' businesses, not only because they have contributed to the country, but also because of their contribution to the economy. The impact on the community and the employment problems of more Americans.