By Matthew Kredell
The USC Price School of Public Policy and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco collaborated to host a roundtable discussion on “Empowering Veteran-Owned Businesses” at the Federal Reserve’s downtown Los Angeles office on May 21.
Representatives from the nonprofit sector, financial services, entertainment, technology, health, local government and business joined with military veteran small business owners to engage in meaningful dialogue on how to enhance opportunities for veteran entrepreneurs.
USC Price Dean Jack H. Knott opened the day with statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau that nearly 1 in 10 small businesses in the country is veteran owned. These 2.4 million small businesses employ almost 6 million people and generate about $1 trillion in receipts, he cited.
“Given the importance of veteran entrepreneurs in the national economy, the Price School is really proud to host this event, which brings together key stakeholders dedicated to spurring veteran-helmed businesses,” Knott said.
More than 50 percent of World War II veterans launched a business, and the number was about the same following the Korean War. Since 2001, 2.8 million men and women have returned from deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“All too often we hear about the problems that are confronted with our military community,” said Joseph Chicas, coordinator for the Office of Veterans Affairs under Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “We’re tackling these big issues to end veteran homelessness and unemployment, we’re focusing on mental health, we’re trying to reform the VA. So many of these issues are very deep and complex, but not too often do we talk about the attributes, the assets that our veterans bring to our workforce and our local economy.”
In her keynote address, Stephanie Stone, chief deputy director for the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, described some of these skills learned in the military: to adapt at a fast pace, deal with unpredictable environments, leadership and team-building, working together to achieve complex missions.
“As a vet and a veteran advocate, I’ve witnessed firsthand the translatable skills that military experience develops and how they cultivate into excellent entrepreneurial traits,” Stone said. “The success rate of veteran-owned businesses is almost twice that of other start-ups.”
In a second keynote, K.C. Choi explained the efforts of Citigroup’s Citi Salutes program for which he serves as senior vice president and director. Its “Realize Your Dream” small business competition gave away $130,000 to six veteran entrepreneurs. It is one of many programs actively trying to help veterans.
“When I got out of active duty in 2007, about three-quarters of the programs out there now didn’t exist,” Choi said. “These programs are valuable assets.”
However, as discussed in the event’s first panel where small business-owning veterans shared their triumphs and challenges on the road to entrepreneurship, finding this assistance isn’t always easy.
Karen Kraft, board member for Veterans in Films and Television, moderated a panel that included Ryan Curtis, owner of Screenifest Destiny Productions; Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, owner of Blue Three Productions and co-founder of Veterans in Films and Television; Andrea Marr, vice president of energy services at Regatta Solutions; and Williams Osgood, certified business and executive coach with CFR & Associates.
Kraft pointed out that service men and women get eight to 10 weeks of basic training to understand military culture, but then are out-processed in three to five days as they transition back to civilian life.
“You’re in this huge cultural shift in your life, and you have all this excitement,” Hausmann-Stokes said. “Maybe three months after I got home is when I was ready to start thinking about what I was going to do.”
The second panel featured people who provide small business development tools for veterans, including: David Hincapie, capacity builder for The Jonas Project; Elaine Matthews, principal of Ventures, Etc.; Thomas McCluskey, core business advisor at Pacific Coast Regional Small Business Development Center; and Chris Galy, board member for Veterans in Technology. The talk was moderated by James Bogle, program director for the Master of Business for Veterans at the USC Marshall School of Business.
If groups such as these can provide veterans with access to financing, mentoring and information needed to be successful entrepreneurs, it can go a long way to help avoid the problems associated with their transition, Chicas commented.
“When a veteran wins an award or a contract, there’s one thing I can promise you will happen: they will hire veterans,” Osgood said. “We are 100 percent more qualified to hire veterans than civilians, and we do it.”