Global Marketplace Offers Opportunity for Growth

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of International Trade, U.S. businesses have a competitive advantage for producing high-quality, innovative goods and services; and advancements in e-commerce and logistics that have lowered the cost of doing business overseas make this an opportune time to export American-made goods.

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Business Support for Veterans

The Veterans Suite at the WESST Enterprise Center in Albuquerque

New Mexico is home to more than 135,000 veterans, and almost half of them are under the age of 65. For those former service members interested in operating businesses, nonprofit organizations and state and federal agencies can help with business formation, certification, and contract acquisition that levels the playing field for vets that have spent their careers out of the private sector.

Veterans come to the private-sector workforce with a lot to offer, including advanced training in specialized fields such as logistics, security, information technology, personnel management and administration. They understand the complexities of doing business with the U.S. government and the importance of following instructions and protocol. They appreciate the need for teamwork and leadership, and they work well under pressure. In other words, veterans have the skills needed to start and manage a business.

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Veterans Get Help in Business

 

Lloyd Calderon, Director, New Mexico Veterans’ Business Resource Center, and Director, VBOC

When Freedom Construction of Edgewood was hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade the electrical system at Conchas Dam, the job was the first federal contract the company had been awarded. One of the reasons Freedom’s owners, Mark Beasley and Steven Tenorio, got the $1.1 million job is because they know what many veteran-owners of businesses do not: Federal laws set aside 3 percent of federal contracts for businesses owned by veterans who were disabled during the course of their military service.

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