400 disabled veteran small business owners joined 200 active duty military personnel, including a large contingent of Marines back from Iraq, at a Veterans Business Expo in Anaheim on May 3 and 4. The program called Keeping the Promise honored corporations who supported veteran businesses with contracts and career opportunities.
A highlight of the two day “Vetrepreneur” event was a Procurement Matchmaking program sponsored by eAgency NICE OFFICE which scheduled 1,000 face to face meetings between veteran small business owners and senior buyers from 71 federal agencies and major US corporations. Among those participating were American Airlines, Lockheed, Chevron and the US departments of Health and Human Services, Interior and Energy.
eAgency founder Bob Lotter, a nine year Army veteran, keynoted the May 4 opening session focusing on the importance of veterans in our nation's history and his commitment to helping these patriots pursue the American dream. “I have been among the fortunate and I have enjoyed economic success,” explained Mr. Lotter. “To be with you and to try and help any American veteran enjoy similar success is a labor of love and a distinct honor.”
The Veterans Expo was sponsored jointly by the California Disabled Veterans Business Alliance and Veterans Business Journal, the leading publication for vet owned small businesses. Chris Hale, co-host of the event and publisher of Veterans Business Journal said, “Clearly, the Nice Office sponsored procurement matchmaking program was a major highlight of this expo. It provided unique access for hundreds of vets to open doors for future relationships with major agencies and corporations. It was a major success.”
eAgency’s NICE OFFICE is also a national co-sponsor along with Lockheed, HP, Aflac, Federal Express and MasterCard of the United States Small Business Administration’s national Business Matchmaking initiative which has resulted in facilitating over $400,000,000 in contracts for small business through 40,000 face to face meetings with government and private sector buyers around the country.