{"id":69008,"date":"2023-11-20T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/11\/20\/federal-aid-to-veteran-owned-small-businesses-grew-in-fy23\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:49:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:49:54","slug":"federal-aid-to-veteran-owned-small-businesses-grew-in-fy23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2023\/11\/20\/federal-aid-to-veteran-owned-small-businesses-grew-in-fy23\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal aid to veteran-owned small businesses grew in FY23"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Federal loans to veteran-owned small businesses were up 14% last year, continuing a recent trend in growth for entrepreneurs in the military community<\/a>, officials from the Small Business Administration<\/a> announced Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency<\/a> handed out more than $1.1 billion in support to more than 2,800 veteran companies in fiscal 2023, an increase of roughly 40% in funding and 33% in total loan numbers since 2020. From fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2020, officials had seen declines in those figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman<\/a> said in a statement that the uptick is both \u201ca testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of our American heroes and the SBA\u2019s commitment to simplifying access, cutting red tape, and broadening our outreach network to meet the needs of entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration estimates that the country has about 1.9 million veteran-owned small businesses which employ about 5.5 million Americans, a small but significant portion of the country\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\t