Data Brief: Women Veteran Entrepreneurs 2022

This brief provides highlights from the 2021 National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs (NSMAE) focusing on female veteran entrepreneurs. NSMAE monitors trends in the activity, needs, and economic, social, and policy barriers of military-affiliated entrepreneurs in the United States. This annual survey and forthcoming public dataset will be an enduring source of current insights for public and private sector leaders, policymakers, and community-based organization on systemic barriers to and drivers of entrepreneurial success among veterans and their family members.

Read the accessible Word version of the data brief.

To learn more about this study and other briefs, publications, and presentations visit the NSMAE Series.

The findings in this brief are based on the data collected from 298 female veteran entrepreneurs, which represents 11.2% of the respondents in the 2021 survey.

A Few Key Takeaways

57 % of female veteran entrepreneur consider themselves as social entrepreneur

Top motivations for female veteran entrepreneurs

Maintain personal freedom
36%
Chance to implement own ideas
34%
Opportunity to be financially independent
31%
Helping society/supporting community
30%
Having more free time/flexible hours
29%

Top Barriers in Pursuing or Achieving Business Goals

Lack of access to capital
37%
Lack of financing
34%
Lack of experience in entrepreneurship or business ownership
27%
Irregular income
23%
Lack of mentors for my business
22%

Navigation

have difficulty navigating the resources in their local community.
0 %
have difficulty marketing their business.
0 %
believe the certification process is difficult.
0 %

Lending

Indicated that the capital they need is not readily available
55%
Applied for credit/financing with a lender or creditor
48%
Of those that applied, 51% were denied credit/finance from lenders or creditors
51%
Pay an interest rate of 15% or more on loan/credit card with the largest balance
45%
State that their business’ financial condition causes them stress
67%

Military Transition and Entrepreneurship

Needed time to figure out what to do with their life during their transition
65%
Indicate that the skills they learned in military have helped them with their business
97%
Indicate that entrepreneurship helped them find a purpose after military
60%
Indicate that entrepreneurship made their transition into civilian life easier
46%

Health and Well Being

Female veteran entrepreneur indicate that their general health was good, very good, or excellent
73%
Female service-connected disabled veteran entrepreneur indicated that their disability creates obstacles in business ownership
36%
Female veteran entrepreneur had seriously consider attempting suicide this past year, of those 1 in 4 did NOT seek professional help
3%

Other Publications

2022

Missing Perspectives: Women in the Military From Service to Civilian Life

Missing Perspectives: Black & African Americans in the Military—From Service to Civilian Life (2022)

2021

Native Americans in the Military: From Service to Civilian Life

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Military: From Service to Civilian Life 

2020

Hispanics and Latinos in The Military: From Service to Civilian Life

Women in the Military: Transition, Employment, and Higher Education After Service