Making the transition to civilian life is one of the greatest challenges veterans face. For veteran entrepreneurs, this transition can pose an even bigger challenge. While almost 50% of veterans home returning from World War II started businesses, that number is down to 4.5% today. But why? The biggest challenge faced by today’s veterans is access to the funds and social networks needed to start their businesses. That’s why the PenFed Foundation launched the Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program (VEIP), which has a Master’s Program that features a start-up fundraising accelerator for veteran entrepreneurs.
Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and CEO and Founder of ‘Free to Feed,’ Trillitye “Trill” Paullin is currently a VEIP Master’s Program participant. Her passion as a Molecular Biologist and mother of two led to her to found Free to Feed, an organization that creates science-based content for allergen-free breastfeeding and is developing products to empower parents through infant allergies such as patenting the technology for mothers to analyze their breast milk for allergen proteins.
Director of Veteran Entrepreneurs at PenFed, Seda Goff, alongside Trill, discuss the importance of supporting veteran owned businesses. They will also identify the best cities for veteran entrepreneurs in America based on a new study which highlights the best cities for veterans to start and grow a business as well as how these cities handled the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
