Calling All Women-Veteran-Owned Businesses in Dallas County - Take the survey!

Businesses owned by women veterans grew from 4 percent of all veteran-owned businesses to more than 15 percent between 2007 and 2012 and more than 383,000 as of 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. The businesses without employees had receipts of $7.1 billion, while those with employees had receipts in excess of $10.7 billion and a total workforce of more than 100,000. Even so, this group of women business owners has not received much attention.

In 2015, the National Women’s Business Council issued a recommendation that more programs are needed to engage women-veteran business owners. This recommendation was echoed by the Small Business Administration’s Advisory Council on Veteran Business Affairs—specifically noting that more local research is needed to assess the needs of women-veteran entrepreneurs and design relevant programs to support this population. For Dallas County, it is an opportunity to support a thriving entrepreneurial community and learn how to effectively engage and support these businesses.

The Veteran Women’s Enterprise Center (VWEC), a national initiative launched in southern Dallas, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas are currently conducting research exclusively focused on the “Moments That Matter” for businesses owned by veteran women in Dallas County. With a focus on identifying the most impactful issues and situations encountered by these businesses, the primary goals of the project are to:

• Determine whether the experiences of Dallas County’s women veteran-owned businesses are comparable to those of women-veteran entrepreneurs nationally.

• Highlight the “Moments That Matter” during start-up, growth and expansion efforts.

• Identify gaps in support services for women-veteran entrepreneurs.

The data-gathering process of this project is twofold, beginning with an online survey to collect basic information on the women and their businesses and concluding with a series of focus groups to capture their unique stories of business successes and challenges. Once the data are collected, the Dallas Fed and VWEC will produce a report that illustrates the state of women-veteran-owned businesses in Dallas County.

How can you support this effort?

1) Women-veteran-owned businesses: Take the survey, sign up for a focus group and share this information with your network.

2) Community partners: We invite chambers, certification agencies, business-support and veteran-services organizations to help identify and engage women-veteran-owned businesses by sharing a unique partner link via their communications vehicles (newsletters, emails, website, social media, etc.) In turn, we will provide partners with the opportunity to host their own focus group sessions and/or receive tailored data reports reflecting the responses of women-veteran business owners in their organizations.

3) All others: If you know of an organization that would be a good fit to support this research project, please share this information, email VWEC Executive Director VR Small at veteranwomensec@gmail.com or call 214-489-7984.