This week is National Veterans Small Business Week (Oct. 30-Nov. 3) and it should come as no surprise how many top corporations were founded or run by veterans; and that former military members are perfectly suited for entrepreneurship and corporate leadership. According to Forbes magazine, “…skills learned in the military such as decision-making under pressure, organization, and leadership translate well to the corporate boardroom. And those skills tend to make a big difference, with companies led by former military officers tending to show better performance.”
Veterans have traditionally been successful at starting their own businesses, especially after WWII, when nearly 50% of veterans started their own businesses. Over the years they have been quite successful. Army veteran Sam Walton co-founded Walmart; Marine Corp veteran Fred Smith founded Fed/Ex; and Air Force veteran Dave Liniger was one of the co-founders of RE/MAX. Verizon, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, Verizon Communications, and 7-Eleven were also founded by military veterans. Unfortunately, veteran entrepreneurship is on the decline with only 5.6% of veterans owning their own companies today.
With this in mind, MBDA has made veteran-owned businesses a priority by increasing support for these firms through its nationwide network of MBDA Business Centers, and this support is necessary. Today, there are 2.5 million veteran-owned businesses in the U.S., of which 21 percent are owned by African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. These 521,000 minority veteran-owned businesses represent 6.5 percent of all minority-owned firms.
MBDA recently honored minority-owned businesses in Detroit during Minority Enterprise Development Week, October 22—28, 2017. A new award category, Minority Veteran-Owned Firm of the Year, was bestowed to Army veteran, Bede Ramcharan, President & CEO of Indatatech, of San Antonio, Texas. Ramcharan is a retired Army colonel with over 22 years of global operation and leadership experience in peacetime and combat. His expertise in logistics and sustainment operations was used to create a global supply chain solutions company that has performed work worldwide. In addition to numerous awards and recognitions, the company has been recognized as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in San Antonio (2005 and 2015); twice named Corporation of the Year by the Southwest Minority Supplier Council; a winner of two regional MED Week awards (San Antonio and Houston, Texas). Last year his company was named a Best Places to Work in San Antonio.
MED Week award winners were invited to the White House Tuesday, October 24th, where President Trump acknowledged their success, commitment, and economic impact stating, “Minority-owned businesses are a bedrock of the American economy and will be a critical component in the countries new period of economic revival.”
If you are a minority veteran business owner, contact an MBDA Business Center to find out how we can help you grow your firm. You can also support a veteran-owned business this week by making purchases from veteran owned firms. Find them in your area at http://www.buyveteran.com.
For more information on visit National Veterans Small Business Week
Posted at 4:21 PM
