Applications Being Taken for Disabled Veterans’ Program

PurdueLogoApplications are being accepted for the fifth class of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.

Purdue University's Krannert School of Management is one of eight schools at universities around the country that teach the bootcamp, which is aimed at helping post-9/11veterans disabled as a result of their military service launch their own businesses.

EBV teaches participants principles of entrepreneurship and small-business management. All expenses are paid.

"We at Krannert believe that creating pathways to success for veterans will contribute to the economic and social vitality of communities across the state and country," said P. Christopher Earley, Krannert dean. "EBV is a hallmark program in Krannert's broad efforts to help veterans develop their management, leadership and entrepreneurial skills."

The program is conducted in three phases, said Elaine Mosakowski, Krannert EBV academic director: a self-study session in which veterans complete courses through online discussions moderated by university faculty; an intensive, nine-day on-campus residency session where veterans learn to develop their own business concepts and understand the basic elements of small-business management; and a 12-month technical assistance program during which graduates have ongoing support and mentorship.

"The EBV program at Purdue not only met my expectations, but exceeded them," said Craig A. Triscari, founder and senior partner of Trilegion, an Indianapolis-area based consulting firm, and a 2012 EBV graduate.

"The program combined scholarly knowledge with information from current entrepreneurs offering real-world experiences. It provided the research tools and systems needed to start a business. It offered opportunities to connect with business and educational mentors. And it gave veterans an inroad into the public and private business sectors."

This year's on-campus session will be held Nov 1-9. The Purdue session will begin in Indianapolis before moving to West Lafayette.

Those accepted into the program are assigned to one of the participating universities. The curriculum is coordinated at all eight to ensure participants receive a consistent and high-quality experience. The bootcamp integrates faculty, entrepreneurs, disability experts and business professionals. Veterans receive instruction in idea recognition, operations, legal issues, finances, human resources, economics, marketing and commercialization plans.

Students accepted into the program demonstrate a strong interest in entrepreneurship, high motivation for starting a new venture and tenacity for completion of EBV training.

Air Force veteran Mike Haynie, a Syracuse business professor, founded EBV at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management in 2007.

In 2009, it was recognized as a national best practice by the secretary of the Army for serving soldiers and their families, and in 2011 the editors of Inc. magazine selected it as one of the 10 best college-based entrepreneurship training programs in the U.S.

In addition to Krannert and Syracuse, others in the consortium are the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management; the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University; the Florida State University College of Business; the University of Connecticut School of Business; E.J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University; and Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.