[2014 POLICY AGENDA] 5.3: Support Veteran Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners The skills forged in military service easily lend themselves to the entrepreneurial mindset required to start and sustain a small business. Many veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan return home ready to start their own small business About 6 percent of IAVA Membership survey respondents already own a small business and 20 percent plan to start their own business.43 While programs exist to support veteran-owned small businesses through the Small Business Administration and through contracting preferences, the majority of small business owners in IAVA’s survey reported that their challenges included difficulty in obtaining start up capital, operating costs and navigating state and federal regulations.44
IAVA Recommendations:
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I.
Allow veterans to use their GI Bill Benefits as seed money for starting a small business or start-up. (Also listed in Chapter 4)
II.
Initiate a robust and innovative outreach campaign promoting existing small business loan programs for veterans through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
III.
Mitigate the effect of frequent and lengthy deployments by providing small business owners serving in the National Guard and Reserves with targeted tax relief and additional access to capital, insurance and bonding through established federal and local programs.
IV.
Expand the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for veterans (EBV) to all veterans.
V.
Ensure all legislation that promotes small business and manufacturing jobs specifies a benchmark for inclusion of veteran hiring and/or veteran-owned businesses.
VI.
Extend contracting preference to veteranowned small businesses for good obtained though the federal supply schedule of the General Services Administration.