A federal official leading efforts to help veteran entrepreneurs was in Des Moines this week and she praised Iowa’s initiative to attract veterans to live and work here.

“Iowa and Minnesota really stand out as states that want to bring their vets home and are really putting their money where their mouth is,” said Barbara Carson, associate administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development, a branch of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Carson, who’s been in the job for three years said few other states have programs as comprehensive as Home Base Iowa, the state program that offers incentives and jobs for veterans.

Home Base Iowa was launched in 2014 after state legislation provided a tax exemption on military pensions, created veteran hiring preferences, streamlined occupational licensure, and offered automatic in-state tuition for veterans, spouses and their dependents. Several large corporations also pledged to hire veterans and already have exceeded the number of vets they committed to hire.

Carson said the SBA has several benefits for veteran entrepreneurs, including loans with no fees or reduced fees – both for veteran and their spouses. She said if she would suggest anything to make Home Base Iowa friendlier for small business owners it would be a tax credit for business owners who hire veterans.

When she returns to Washington D.C., she said she will look at how she can help the state of Iowa and its cities set reasonable goals for awarding a percentage of their contracts to veteran-owned businesses, which is what the federal government does.

Key to that will be some kind of assessment or census of the numbers of veteran-owned businesses in the state and in specific cities, so reasonable quotas can be set, she said.

Carson also was promoting a little-known federal benefit: Business owners who employ a reservist or guards person who is deployed, and the loss of that person is economically devastating to their business, can qualify for a direct loan for working capital while the employee is deployed.

The 4 percent interest loan can be paid back over 30 years. The maximum loan amount is $2 million. Similarly, a reservist small business owner can qualify for a loan to keep their business going while they are deployed.

More information about the SBA’s programs for vets and for their spouses can be found here and here.