As National Veterans Small Business Week Begins, Shaheen Visits SilverCloud in Portsmouth to Highlight Importance of Veteran Entrepreneurs to New Hampshire’s Economy

(November 2, 2015- Senator Shaheen visiting SilverCloud in Portsmouth, NH)

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(Washington, DC)—To kick-off National Veterans Small Business Week, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) visited SilverCloud, a veteran-owned business in downtown Portsmouth that develops customer service software products for the financial industry. She had an opportunity to tour their offices, meet with employees and discuss how a federal small business lending program has helped the company. Senator Shaheen’s visit follows passage in the Senate of her resolution designating the first week of November as a time to honor our veteran small business owners. As the lead Democrat of the Senate’s Small Business Committee, Senator Shaheen has made supporting veteran small business owners one of her highest legislative priorities.

“Our veterans should be recognized, not only for their selfless service protecting our country, but for the many ways they are strengthening our economy,” said Shaheen. “SilverCloud is a great example of a veteran-owned business that’s selling an in-demand product and creating good jobs here in New Hampshire. To achieve more success stories like SilverCloud, I’ll continue to lead efforts in Congress to provide support for veteran entrepreneurs who want to start up or expand their own small businesses.”

Earlier this year, Senator Shaheen led the effort in Congress to extend the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan guarantee, a program that SilverCloud was able to take advantage of to access credit to expand their marketing and software development capabilities. Bill Hoyt, a Navy aviator during the Vietnam War, started SilverCloud in 2005.

“The SBA has been truly instrumental in the recent growth of SilverCloud,” said Bill Hoyt. “Twice this year, with the help of our local Provident Bank, we secured SBA guaranteed funding. The extra capital enabled us to expand our workforce by 40% and our sales by nearly 60%. This just wouldn’t have happened without their backing.”

In July, President Obama signed into law Shaheen’s Veterans Entrepreneurship Act, a bill to lower the cost of Small Business Administration loan programs designed to help veterans start and grow their small businesses. Shaheen has also introduced legislation to fully authorize other Small Business Administration programs to help veterans start or expand a small business, including entrepreneurship training for active-duty members preparing to transition to civilian life.