Chamber, SBA hosting Veterans Seminar

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Alice Chamber of Commerce will host a FREE business event specifically designed to engage local veterans and their families and to showcase the various programs, resources and community organizations available to help them achieve business success on Tuesday, August 10, 2013. 
The event will take place from 1to 3:30 p.m. at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8621(VFW) home located at 2200 N. Texas Blvd., Alice, Texas.

SBA resource partners who will also participate include the Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC), SCORE, Del Mar College Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Business Resource Center (BRC) and the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). Also participating will be the Jim Wells County Veterans Service Office, Texas Veterans Commission, Veterans Leadership Program, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and the Office of  Congressman Filemon Vela.

“A soldier’s commitment to excellence, strong attention to detail, strategic planning skills, mission focus, and a can do attitude are the same qualities that make business owners successful.  This event is just one venue in which the SBA brings together the tools needed to sharpen a Veteran’s Entrepreneurial Spirit,” Sylvia Zamponi, SBA District Director for the Lower Rio Grande Valley District said.

According to a May 2011 study from the SBA Office of Advocacy, Veterans are 45 percent more likely to jump into entrepreneurship than individuals with no active-duty military experience.  In 2007 (the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau), veterans owned 2.4 million businesses, or 9 percent of all businesses nationwide, generating $1.2 trillion in receipts and employing nearly 5.8 million people.

“We have quite a few veterans in South Texas who can benefit from this program,” Alice Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Juan Navejar Jr. said. “We welcome all veterans and their families to come and find out more information on how they can become their own business owner.”

SBA currently engages veterans through its 68 local SBA district offices, 15 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide, and its partnership with 1,000 Small Business Development Centers and some 12,000 SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Businesses volunteers. Each year SBA helps more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists.  To learn more about additional opportunities for veterans available through the SBA, please visit the website at www.sba.gov/veterans.

For more information about the event contact Elizabeth Soliz at (361) 879-0017 Ext. 301 or email to Elizabeth.soliz@sba.gov.