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6 The Hampton Roads Messenger Think Big FROM PAGE 1


representatives who were in attendance. A total of twelve awards were presented to contributors to Hampton Roads’ local economy, including nine awards given to area business owners that were nominated by their cities’ economic development departments and other conference partner organizations. The awardees were recognized for being model businesses that have created jobs in Hampton Roads. The small business honorees were: Chesapeake Controls, nominated by TowneBank; Covenant Care, nominated by the City of Hampton; Couture Cakes By Nika, nominated by the City of Newport News; Crewestone Technologies, nominated by the City of Chesapeake; Influance Hair Care, nominated by SunTrust Bank; MYMIC, LLC, nominated by the City of Portsmouth; Parrish-Point, LLC, nominated by the City of Virginia Beach; The Cove Center of Veterinary Expertise, nominated by the City of Suffolk and The Renova Center, nominated by the City of Norfolk. The efforts of these businesses have had a direct and positive impact on Hampton Roads’ economy. The City of Chesapeake, also received a Community Development Award for its continued support of, and partnerships with organizations, such as the Hampton Roads Messenger, to promote community and small business development in the region.


Community Reinvestment


Awards were also given to honor the work of institutions that are advancing innovative solutions to the challenges facing small businesses. SunTrust Bank and TowneBank were recognized as 2012 Community Reinvestment


Holiday Budgeting FROM PAGE 2


part of the budgeting process. • Avoid impulse buys. Try to do


some research about when and where the best place is to buy the gifts on your list. Store flyers and door-buster sales can offer big savings if you’re willing to do the legwork to find the deals. “Cyber Monday,” the first Monday following Thanksgiving, is a big day for Internet specials. Plan and start shopping early so you don’t feel pressured to grab something at the last minute that will ultimately cause you to blow your budget.


• Keep track of spending. Little


items here and there can tip you over the top of your budget. Track as you buy so you always have a mental note of where you are in your spending process. And definitely keep those receipts in case a gift recipient needs to make a return or exchange. If you find yourself going over your limit, where can you cut back to make up the difference?


• Think outside the gift-wrapped


Volume 7 Number 3


Award recipients for their commitment to local businesses, and the local community.


Other highlights of the conference


included a “Win $500 in five minutes” pitch contest won by Patrick Kelly of CMIT Solutions, and a panel discussion on the continuous improvement of the small business climate in Virginia. Gilbert Bland, Chairman of the State Council of Higher Education; Ida McPherson, Director of the Virginia Department of Minority Business Enterprise, and Mark Cartwright, Special Assistant to the Governor for Supplier Diversity and Procurement Compliance, were among the panelists. The conference also included a vendor fair, providing organizations with an opportunity to display information about the services and opportunities they offer for small businesses.


The Hampton Roads Messenger,


celebrating its 6th anniversary, has an unparalleled reputation in its dedicated support of local small businesses, obtained through hosting various entre- preneurial programs, workshops, and networking events at little or no cost to attendees. The Messenger was proud to continue this legacy by sponsoring the Small Businesses Thinking Big Conference. “As we celebrate our 6th anniversary, we are celebrating six years of grassroots community empowerment,” states Hampton Roads Messenger Publisher, Angela Jones. “No community is complete without small businesses, whose owners are the true heroes of the American economy.” Other conference sponsors included small business champions TowneBank, Congressman and Mrs. Scott Rigell, Optima Health, and SunTrust Bank. Next year's conference will be held in May, to avoid another superstorm.


box. Talk to your loved ones about establishing traditions where the focus is on spending time together, not spending money. Make gifts for each other, attend a cultural event or volunteer together, draw names for a gift exchange instead of buying gifts for everyone, pool funds and make a donation to a charity you all support, plan a cookie exchange, or host a potluck dinner instead of an expensive sit down meal.


• Plan how you’ll pay. Ideally,


create your budget and stick to it by paying with cash or a debit card. Average purchases using cash/debit cards are about 15 percent less than credit card purchases. But if you’re like many people who want to stack up air miles or points on your credit card, be sure you can pay off your credit card bill when it arrives in January. Pay on time and in full to avoid finance charges, late fees and exorbitant interest rates.


• Use holiday budgeting as a


teachable moment for your children. Include the children in the planning so they learn to prioritize expenditures, evaluate options rationally and have buy-in on major purchases and charitable giving selections.


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November 2012


SBA Helps Veterans Start, Grow and Expand Small Businesses


WASHINGTON – As


the nation marks Veterans Day 2012, the U.S. Small Business Administration continues to build on its successful programs for America’s military veterans, helping tens of thousands of veterans each year with small business financing, comprehensive business training and counseling and access to federal contracts.


“Around Veterans Day,


our thoughts turn to the men and women who are currently serving in the Armed Forces, as well as to all veterans who have made sacrifices and served our country over the years,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “When you consider the leadership and management skills our veterans develop while on active and reserve duty, it’s no wonder we see so many of them choose the path of small business ownership.”


According to data from the U.S.


Census Bureau veterans are successful small business owners. Nearly one in 10 small businesses nationwide are veteran-owned. Collectively, these 2.4 million small businesses employ almost 6 million Americans and generate more than $1 trillion in receipts. In the private sector workforce, veterans are 45 percent more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed.


SBA supports veteran business


owners through entrepreneurial training and mentoring, access to capital, and business development opportunities through government contracts.


Entrepreneurial Development This year SBA partnered with the


Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to develop a national entrepreneurship training program for transitioning service members as part of the new Transition Assistance Program. Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup was piloted with all four branches of the services in summer and fall 2012. The Boots to Business program will be rolled out during 2013 providing exposure to entrepreneurship training to all 250,000 service members who transition from active duty to civilian life each year.


In a closely related effort, SBA


and Syracuse University continue to expand the success of the Entrepre- neurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities program. The growing partnership between SBA and Syracuse University, now in its fourth year, provides training on how disabled vets can start and grow a small business, with programs targeted to service-dis- abled veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their family caregivers, women veterans, and National Guard and Reserve members and their families. Since 2009, the first year SBA partnered with Syracuse University, 434 service-disabled veterans have participated in the program.


Participating schools include:


Syracuse University, University of Connecticut, UCLA, Florida State University, Texas A&M University, Purdue University, Louisiana State University, and Cornell University.


SBA is also providing $2.6 million


through a cooperative agreement over three years for two programs; Women


Richard Lewis says being a veteran helps his IT business RTL Networks. Photo by Kathleen Lavine, DBJ


Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entre- preneurship (V-WISE), that focuses on training, networking and mentorship for women veterans, and Operation Endure & Grow, targets National Guard and Reserve component members, their families and partners.


Access to Capital In FY 2012, SBA backed more


than 3,200 loans supporting nearly $2.1 billion in financing to more than 2,800 Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) through its flagship 7(a) and 504 loan programs, including $118 million through the Patriot Express Loan program. Patriot Express loans offer many advantages to veterans and to SBA’s network of participating lenders nationwide. They feature one of SBA’s fastest turnaround times for loan approval and an enhanced guaranty and interest rate on loans up to $500,000 to small businesses owned by veterans, reservists and their spouses. Patriot Express loans can be used for most business purposes, including startup, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business- occupied real-estate purchases.


Government Contracting The


Service-Disabled


Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern Procurement Program allows federal agencies to set acquisitions aside for exclusive competition among service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. Federal prime contracting dollars awarded to Ser- vice-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) increased for the fifth consecutive year to $11.2 billion, or 2.65 percent, in FY2011, up from $10.793 billion, or 2.50 percent, in FY2010.


Over the last year, SBA has created


a series of online contracting courses called Government Contracting (GC) Classroom to help prospective and existing small businesses, including VOSBs and SDVOSBs, understand the basics about contracting with federal agencies.


In addition,


the Office of Veteran’s Business Development provides procurement training to SDVOSBs to help them take advantage of federal contracting opportunities under the Service-Dis- abled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern Procurement Program.


SBA reaches out to veterans


through its 68 SBA district offices, 15 Veterans Business Outreach Centers nationwide, more than 1,000 Small Business Development Centers, 110 Women’s Business Centers and some 12,000 SCORE volunteers, more than 40 percent of whom are veterans. SBA also has numerous programs creating government contracting opportunities for VOSBs. For more information, visit www.sba.gov/vets and www.sba.gov/ reservists.


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