innovate arkansas

The Arkansas Small Business Development Center (ASBDC) and the Arkansas District Office of the U. S. Small Business Administration are partnering to provide small business services to veterans in the state including mobilization planning guides, free training, and loan programs. 

"ASBDC is excited to be able to provide these services to veterans," Janet Roderick, executive director of the ASBDC headquartered at UALR, said in a statement.  "I encourage veteran business owners and veterans wanting to start a business to contact their local ASBDC office for assistance." 

ASBDC is now offering its Starting a Business in Arkansas seminar free to any veteran.  Veterans should contact their local ASBDC office to register.  This three-hour seminar identifies major steps crucial to starting a business, discusses key issues that affect the success of a business, and discusses start-up requirements and common pitfalls that every entrepreneur faces.  

Earlier this year, the ASBDC developed a new publication, the Arkansas National Guard Business Mobilization Guide.  The 32-page document guides business owners who are guard members on how best to prepare their business in the event of deployment.  ASBDC has already distributed more than 200 guides to National Guard personnel.  The guide is available on the ASBDC's website at:  http://www.asbdc.ualr.edu/veterans/. 

The Patriot Express loan program is available to military community members including veterans, service-disabled veterans, active-duty service members participating in the military's Transition Assistance Program, Reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of any of the above, and the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service, or of a service-connected disability.  More information on Patriot Express is available on the SBA's website at:  http://www.sba.gov/patriotexpress/. 

The ASBDC provides free assistance, on an appointment basis, to veterans applying for SBA Patriot Express Loans. 

"Prior military experience is the strongest predictor of self-employment, increasing the likelihood by 9.4 to 11 percent.  Having some college education increases the chances by 3.3 percent, a baccalaureate degree by 4.4 percent, and graduate experience by 8.3 percent," said Linda Nelson, Arkansas district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration.  "Self-confidence and self-reliance are both important predictors of entrepreneurial aspirations, so this is not surprising. However, it is interesting to see that military experience was the single strongest predictor of starting a business." 

The data was released in December 2007 from a study conducted by the SBA Office of Advocacy. 

ASBDC is the state's premier small business service provider, delivering consulting, training and research services to approximately 10,000 Arkansans annually via a network of seven university-based offices strategically located throughout the state.