The Nebraska District Office of the Small Business Administration has a number of programs to help veterans start a business. Elizabeth Yearwood, Development Specialist with the Nebraska SBA, says Boots to Business is the most popular of them.
Offered in collaboration with Offutt, SCORE and the Nebraska Business Development Center, Boots to Business is a two-day in-service held at Offutt Air Force Base. Yearwood says it is designed especially for transitioning military personnel and covers all the basics of starting a business.
Another way the SBA helps vets get into business is with loans. Yearwood says the SBA Guaranteed Loan Program can mean considerable savings for qualifying veterans.
“How we can really do some veterans advantages and incentives for our loan program is offering either no fees or reduced fees. And the fees are based on the amount of the loan, they can be anywhere from roughly 2% to 3.75% of the guaranteed portion of the loan, and with some of our loan programs there are either no fees up to a certain amount or there are half fees.”
Yearwood says SBA loans go up to 5 million dollars.
For more information about programs available for veterans and others through the Nebraska SBA, the website is SBA.gov/ne