One of the inadvertent casualties of the current efforts by veteran-entrepreneurs to participate in the economic system for which they sacrificed is the millions of small, veteran-owned businesses in thousands of communities throughout the nation.  In the heat of the battle with special interest groups, callous government bureaucrats and disinterested legislators, veteran business advocates have largely been focused on the procurement policies of federal and state government officials and the practices of prime contractors.

While it’s important to keep the heat on these groups, it’s even more important to ease the burden placed on the majority of veteran-owned businesses comprised of small retailers, wholesalers and service providers. These Main Street VOBs lack the resources and mobility required for the persistent and significant advocacy needed to be heard in the “Capitol Towers of Babble” and suffer in silence.

Failure to recognize and promote veteran-ownership has dramatically hindered veteran-owned businesses and, quite frankly, the entire veteran business movement. The 50,000 vetrepreneurs who’ve registered to sell to the federal government only represent the tip of the iceberg. While, to you and me, 50,000 may seem like a big number. But, from a national political standpoint, it’s nearly irrelevant. Sheer numbers of voters representing every constituency from around the country is the best way for the veteran business movement to matter to those elected officials who make the decisions governing our country. 

NaVOBA’s Buy Veteran campaign will realize this goal and represent every vetrepreneur to local, state and federal authorities throughout the nation. The NaVOBA Federal Government Advisory Board, co-chaired by myself and NaVOBA Director of Legislative Affairs Dennis Demolet, will ensure that all of America’s 3 million VOBs have a voice in the federal government.  

It is time to involve the “Silent Veteran Small Business” in support of the major effort underway by veteran entrepreneurial advocates throughout the nation’s capitol and in state capitols of our country. No longer will the Main Street VOBs be ignored by our government.

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