Supporting Veteran’ Society in Entrepreneurship: Best Practices for Entrepreneurship Centers in Higher Education Institutions in the United States

This study evaluates the effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Centers (ECs) within veteran-friendly Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the United States (US) capital region by integrating insights from the 2022 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) conference. This is an extension study to a previously published qualitative study titled “Entrepreneurship Centers: A Qualitative Study on their Mission, Vision, and Support Services for Veteran Entrepreneurship in the United States” (Taffal, Ivanov, Maritz & Anyu, 2025). This study focuses on best practices to support the veteran society at EC’s in the U.S. capital region. The research reveals that while many ECs acknowledge diversity and inclusion principles, few have explicitly developed targeted strategies focus specifically on veterans. The results demonstrate why standardizing best practices along with an aligned mission and vision and specific veteran support systems remains crucial. The analysis highlights the value of community engagement and support structures tailored for veteran populations. Key insights from the conference included the need for ECs to have clear, specific, and veteran-specific goals and programs that will help promote a level playing field for veterans. The findings from this paper are intended to help guide policy makers, HEIs, and ECs to develop more comprehensive and effective initiatives to support veterans in their entrepreneurial journeys and efforts to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the veteran community as a whole while creating social impact and achieving inclusion, empowerment, and systemic change.