Milwaukee, Wisconsin — The Veterans Loan Fund announced this week that it has raised $ 15 million to support current and future veterans entrepreneurs, including seed funding from Wells Fargo. The Veterans Loan Fund is a collaboration between a professional services organization and a national network of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) focused on providing affordable capital and technical assistance to veteran entrepreneurs.
Wendy K. Baumann, President and Vision Director of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), said: “WWBIC is honored to be able to provide development services to veterans such as Wisconsin, Illinois and the Minnesota Veterans Business Outreach Center. The Veterans Loan Fund has made more veterans business owners in our region. It helps to help. “
Lack of access to capital, formal business training, or networks of peers are often barriers to veterans seeking to achieve financial independence through entrepreneurship. The goal of the Veterans Loan Fund is to fill this gap. Veterans who receive loans under this program enjoy a nationwide network of corporate trainers and free access to low interest rate loans.
National technical support partners include Bunker Labs, Vet Met and Vetto CEO. Local partners include the Department of Veterans Affairs Outreach Center, SCORE, and SBDC. Capital Providers (CDFI) include Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (GA), Black Business Investment Fund (FLA), Business Impact Northwest (WA, OR), Colorado Enterprise Fund (CO), Dream Spring (NM) , Includes Economic Community Development Institute. (OH), Pathway Lending (TN, AL, KY), PeopleFund, Managing Member (TX), Pursuit, formerly Excelsior Growth Fund (NJ, NY, PA), Wisconsin WWBIC.
Wells Fargo’s support for the Veterans Loan Fund includes a $ 3.5 million investment and $ 1.5 million to enable CDFI to provide eligible veterans with affordable loans and rebalance the fund. Includes grants. Since the fund’s launch, member CDFI has provided more than $ 10.5 million in loans, created more than 500 jobs and provided 2,200 hours of free technical assistance.
Estimated annual capital demand by experienced entrepreneurs who do not receive any kind of funding for their business is $ 100 million. The Veterans Loan Fund hopes to close this gap within five years.
Jenny Flores, Director of Charity for Wells Fargo’s Small Business Growth, said: “We are proud to support this veterans loan fund’s vision of a more comprehensive economy and to provide seed funding for this national effort to support veterans-owned businesses.
Loan recipients of the Wisconsin Veterans Loan Fund will be complemented by the services of the WWBIC Veterans Affairs Center (VBOC). VBOC provides business development, including business training, counseling, and resource partner referrals to transitional service members, veterans, National Guard and reserve members, and military spouses who are interested in starting or growing a small business. Designed to provide services. VBOC is partially funded by a cooperation agreement with the US Small and Medium Business Administration. For more information on VBOC, please visit wwbic.com/veterans or contact Dan Newberry, Co-Director of VBOC, Wisconsin.
For more information on the Veterans Loan Fund, please visit Veteranloanfund.com. For more information on how to apply for a loan locally through the Veterans Loan Fund, please visit wwbic.com/Loans or contact WWBIC Loan Director Michael Hetzel.
###