The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced the 11th annual National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW), scheduled to take place from November 11 to November 15. The event will feature both in-person and virtual events nationwide.

"Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the SBA has expanded its entrepreneurial resources for veterans, service members, and military families to strengthen their paths to the American dream of business ownership," said SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. "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."

Throughout NVSBW, various topics will be highlighted by the SBA, resource partners, and local organizations. These include military-to-civilian transition assistance, entrepreneurial training, government contracting, disaster assistance, and access to capital resources. More information about NVSBW events can be found at sba.gov/nvsbw.

The SBA aims to strengthen veteran small business communities through several initiatives:

- Expanding 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 increased disaster recovery support for deployments or natural disasters.

- Simplifying the veteran small business certification process through the VetCert program.

- Funding various veteran-focused grants.

- Offering entrepreneurship training courses for the military community.

National Veterans Small Business Week is hosted by SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) which started in 2013.

The OVBD works through an extensive network of resource partners including Small Business Development Centers, SCORE mentoring programs, Women’s Business Centers, and VBOCs located throughout the nation. VBOCs are instrumental in hosting programs such as "Boots to Business (B2B)," "Boots to Business Reboot," and "Military Spouse Pathway to Business." Since its inception in 2013, these programs have trained over 211,000 service members, veterans, National Guard members, Reserve members, and military spouses.

For more information on resources available for veteran entrepreneurs visit www.sba.gov/veterans.

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The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power American business ownership dreams by providing essential resources and support needed for starting or growing a business or recovering from declared disasters through its extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. More details can be found at www.sba.gov.