Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Officials hoping Nevada lands a Veteran Business Outreach Center

SBA seeking applicants to operate center aimed at service members, veterans interested in small businesses

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Steve Marcus

Lester Lumbad, president and founder of the Southern Nevada Veterans Chamber of Commerce, poses in his office in Summerlin Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023.

Nevada is primed to receive grant money aimed at bringing federal economic development programs tailored to active military personnel and service veterans.

The move, officials and advocates say, could be a boon for the thousands of budding veteran-owned businesses throughout the state.

Late last year, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced it was accepting grant applications to add up to 12 new Veteran Business Outreach Centers across the nation. The grants are part of a program that provides entrepreneurial development services to former and transitioning service members as well as their spouses interested in starting or growing a small business.

The SBA currently lists 22 outreach centers throughout the country, though that number will likely be growing, said Barry Van Orden, an economic development specialist with the SBA’s Nevada District Office.

In the SBA’s announcement outlining the application process, up to 12 outreach centers could open by the end of the year, awarding more than $4.1 million to help institute these programs. Applicants were given until December to submit their proposals, and recipients of the funding will likely be announced sometime later this month, Van Orden said.

That’s welcome news to U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. who last month sent a letter to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman urging her to pick Nevada among the newest crop of outreach centers. Nevada is more than deserving for one of these sites, Rosen told the Sun in a statement.

“Our state is home to a quarter of a million veterans and more veteran-owned small businesses than many other states, yet none of SBA’s existing Veteran Business Outreach Centers are currently located in Nevada,” Rosen said. “Bringing one to our state is a commonsense move that would have tremendous benefits to our veterans, our communities and our local economies.”

To date, the only outreach center that services Nevada is located in Sierra Vista, Ariz., more than 490 miles away from Las Vegas and near the U.S.-Mexico border, Van Orden said. Nevada was nearly selected for an outreach center back in 2018, he added, but was ultimately passed over due to a lack of qualified applicants to administer the program.

Those applicants are usually an existing nonprofit or educational institution that can work hands-on with entrepreneurs, Van Orden said. Finding suitors to apply to run a program here in Nevada has been a priority since getting looked over last time.

“When the announcement went out, we worked with almost every resource partner that we knew,” Van Orden said. “And from what I’ve seen and heard, I only know of organizations from Southern Nevada that applied (this time), but we’re trying to get the word out everywhere.”

One of those applicants this time around is the Southern Nevada Veterans Chamber of Commerce, led by its president, Lester Lumbad, a former airman. Along with advocacy for veterans’ issues, Lumbad said the chamber’s mission is to spur entrepreneurship, employment and education within the Las Vegas military community. He noted many of the chamber’s member organizations could stand to benefit from an outreach centers in some form.

“We’re pretty well-equipped, based on the relationships that we’ve focused on building around the community,” Lumbad said. “We’ve tried to be creative, offering different programs not only to connect to people, but then also plug them into the right resources they need. So having a (outreach center) accessible to us would just make all those things a lot easier.

“So that collaboration piece is already there, or at least the possibility for it happening is already there,” Lumbad continued.

If approved, Nevada could receive an awardup to $325,000, according to the SBA, with whatever organization running the program being required to run an additional program called Boots to Business, a boot camp that teaches basic business principles for soon-to-be discharged service members, at either Nellis Air Force Base or the Naval Air Station in Fallon.

The outreach centers program also offers services like one-to-one mentoring, helping prospective business operators develop a five-year business plan, and reviewing monthly financial statements to help determine a company’s feasibility, according to its website.

And all of these services can prime existing small businesses for their next stage of growth, said Monifa Caines, the CEO and owner of a beauty supply company tailored for women of color called Queen of Spades. After being discharged following a three-year stint at Nellis in 2006, Caines remembers going from job to job in the corporate world. She said she never felt like she fit in.

When Caines left the Air Force, transition programs like Boots to Business didn’t yet exist. And though she felt prepared to run her business by the time Queen of Spades was started in 2019, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic was among the hardest challenges Caines said she had faced.

“They say be your authentic self, but some companies don’t like that,” Caines said. “During the pandemic, I had to do everything I could to survive. I was just working my business; I didn’t have any part-time or nine-to-five job to fall back on.”

For Caines, having an outreach center will be important for growing her presence here in Nevada. She initially started Queen of Spades in Maryland but moved here in October to begin operations near the West Coast.

“I love that it’s a veteran focused organization that understands us, speaks the language and can translate certain things about approaching people, it’s not about the rank,” Caines said. “And since I’m new to business and I’d like to be a serial entrepreneur, there are questions I have about growing that not everyone can answer.”

And while other business advocacy groups run similar programs, the veteran-to-veteran connection will allow program administrators to help in ways normal civilians simply can’t, said Eric Ranks, executive director of the Veterans Connection and CEO and co-owner of 22 Salute Spirits & Coffee.

“Veteran-to-veteran connections are more important than nonservice member-to-veteran because veterans feel like the traditional person doesn’t understand some of the things they’re dealing with,” Ranks said. “And starting a business is really hard. Most businesses fail in the first one to three years, and if you have a support group around you, that can make the difference between being successful or not.”

Ranks said he and his partners launched 22 Salute in 2021. It sells one-liter bottles of vodka and mesquite-roasted coffee sourced from Honduras and Guatemala. A portion of the profits from 22 Salute go back to the Veterans Connection, a nonprofit Ranks started to provide resources to veterans struggling with mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ranks added that 22 Salute had been fortunate enough to have a strong foundation and had even partnered with Smith’s Food & Drug to sell its vodka there, with plans to launch a bourbon in the works.

Should the VBOC program come to fruition here, Ranks and Caines both said they would consider enrolling. But until then, they and others will be waiting with hopes that good news is on the way.

“Nevada’s veteran community is full of heroes who have made incredible sacrifices for our country,” Rosen said. “As these men and women transition back into civilian life, we owe it to them to provide the support they need to succeed.”