SBA program aids vet business.

* The Small Business Administration (SBA) has unveiled a program called Patriot Express that offers a wide variety of assistance to veterans interested in setting up or expanding their own small businesses.

Assistance under the new SBA program for veterans ranges from help writing a business plan and managing a business, to obtaining financing and learning how to export goods. Participants may also qualify for loans between 2.25 percent and 4.75 percent over the prime interest rate.

Patriot Express is open to veterans, reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of eligible personnel, the surviving spouses of service members who die on active duty, or spouses of veterans who die from a service-connected disability.

Expanding veterans' eligibility to SBA's Patriot Express program was a key recommendation of a presidential task force on the needs of returning veterans.

More information about the SBA program is available at the Small Business Administration's Patriot Express website: www.sba.gov/patriotexpress.