Military Spouse Entrepreneur Tour in Partnership with Meta

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AMSE partnered with Meta in 2022 in a series of roundtable conversations to bring actionable results for military spouse entrepreneurs The roundtables focused on the real needs of milspouse business owners through events sponsored by Meta in collaboration with the Center for American Entrepreneurship

The discussions focused on impacting military spouse entrepreneurs directly and elevating their needs to build sustainable businesses.

Between June and August 2022, AMSE and Meta traveled to Fort Drum, NY; Fort Leavenworth, KS; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, AK; and Camp Atterbury, IN. Registered members of the Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs participated in conversations to share how the military lifestyle can impede starting, scaling, and sustaining a business.

Legislative Action

In November 2020, the Center for American Entrepreneurship took AMSE's Military Spouse data and published it in a report with a call to action for legislative change This called on government leaders to reduce barriers for military spouses to start and transfer businesses and grant access to capital to start and scale business ventures. In 2022, Senators Klobuchar and Tillis introduced the Bipartisan NDAA Amendment, "The Enhancing Military Spouse Entrepreneurship Act," to Support Military Spouse Entrepreneurship. Although the amendment did not get picked up, AMSE is well on its way to raising awareness of issues military spouse entrepreneurship continues to encounter. We will continue our legislative efforts to elevate the voices and needs of military spouse small business owners.

Assoc Of Military Spouse Entrepreneur Conference

In October of 2022, AMSE hosted a 2-day virtual conference with 12 speakers and eight workshops focused on strategies and tactics that allow spouses to apply in their business. Military spouses have many resources, but none are focused solely on them. Spouses need to generate revenue now, and that was our goal with the workshops provided in the two days for over 80+ attendees.

The conference also included a pitch competition, with the winner receiving $5k in cash to grow their business. Lianne Dobson, the founder of Gemini Naturals, has used the winnings to expand marketing efforts and administration support.

Keynote speakers included Lauren Weiner, Chief Growth Officer and founder of Tampa's largest defense contractor WWC Global and CEO of AMSE