This month, more than eighty post-9/11 veterans with disabilities will gather on various campuses, including at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, to pursue entrepreneurship opportunities.
From July 9th through 17th, they will channel their military experience into the business world during the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV).
Other participating b-schools are the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University and the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Comprised of three phases, the EBV offers vets an eight-day residency on campus where they will learn from like-minded entrepreneurs and instructors.
Past graduates have gone on to such ventures as Fidelis Solutions, a career placement agency for veterans; Patriot Construction, a materials handling and construction company—voted by Inc. Magazine as one of its top 500 private organizations—and Relan, which assists companies in adopting sustainable practices.
The bootcamp begins with a “basics” course in which participants receive intensive instruction in formulation of business plans and developing effective ways to communicate their ideas.
Syracuse’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF) sponsors the program, and it is offered to veterans free of charge with support from the U.S. Small Business Administration, private donors, and corporate partnerships.
Tina Kapral, senior director of education and training at IVMF, said,
“EBV has produced more than 1,300 graduates since 2007, of whom 68% have launched new ventures… [We are] excited to work again with UCLA and Texas A&M to support our nation’s veterans in creating and growing their own small businesses.”
The EBV celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, and it is offered at colleges across the country. Other campuses that will host vets include St. Joseph’s University’s Haub School of Business; Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, and the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College.