St. Louis to Host National Veteran Small Business Conference Aug. 6-8

Help for Veterans Who Own Businesses

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WASHINGTON – The National Veterans Small Business Conference, the government’s premier event for Veteran-owned small businesses, is coming to St. Louis’ America’s Center, on Aug. 6-8, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced today.

“VA is committed to bringing more Veteran-Owned Small Businesses into a public-private partnership to help them grow and succeed,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “This event is a unique opportunity for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses to connect directly with government procurement decision makers and business partners.”

During the conference, Veteran-owned business owners will receive information, tools, tips, techniques and how-to instructions to start, build and expand a small business idea into a life-changing reality.

Veterans will be able to attend a wide variety of classes on business operations with more than 200 breakout sessions on how to start and grow a business and successfully compete for federal contracts.  They will also have the opportunity to discuss business and contracting issues with key procurement decision makers from the federal government and private sector.

Finally, Veterans will learn how to get the Veteran-owned business certification needed to compete for federal contracts; outreach to veteran communities; and target networking to discuss government procurement and contracting requirements.

There are 26 million small businesses in the United States.  Of these, 3.6 million are Veteran and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned businesses. Together they employ over 1.8 million workers and generate over $1.6 trillion in revenue. VA assists Veteran-owned businesses with everything from small business start-ups to large defense contracts.

The VA St. Louis VA Health Care Systems (VASLHCS) provides inpatient and ambulatory care in medicine, surgery, neurology and rehabilitation, as well as over 35 subspecialty areas.  The medical center has approximately 10,000 inpatient admissions per year and over 625,000 outpatient visits each year.  It is a two-division facility that serves Veterans and their families in east central Missouri and southwestern Illinois providing ongoing care to over 57,000 veterans each year.  The VASLHCS is the tertiary referral center for VA Medical Centers in Marion, Ill., and Poplar Bluff, Mo., providing inpatient acute care as well as outpatient care.

VA invites all interested persons and businesses to attend.  More information is available at www.nationalveteransconference.com and www.va.gov/OSDBU.