Veterans will soon have more resources for starting a business, thanks to a five-year Small Business Administration grant of roughly $4 million.
The grant will allow Mississippi State University, in partnership with the Office of Veterans Business Development to deliver Boots to Business instruction through a new online training course. Boots to Business is a program to help transitioning veterans and their families develop business models and vision. The funding is awarded based on an initial $824,100 project period plus four option years.
The course is titled “B2B Revenue Readiness.” It is based on curriculum developed for the university’s 2016 award in the “Lean for Main Street" challenge.
MSU College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald said a representative from the business school was currently in Washington, D.C., at the kickoff event for the grant
"We're in the startup phase right now, and we hope to be starting this in July," Oswald said.
According to 2012 census data, there were 26,789 veteran-owned business in Mississippi, or 11.4 percent. Nationally, the figure was 2,521,682 businesses, or 9.1 percent.
Oswald said the course would include lessons on small business skills including customer development, marketing and business plans.
MSU will hire two full-time instructors and a director for the program.
“Our training program is an accelerated platform designed to help entrepreneurial-minded veterans take their ideas from a concept to full operation in a relatively short timeframe, pushing them to create real, tangible results, as well as instilling in them a sense of self-motivated urgency,” Oswald said. “Our ultimate goal is job creation and capital improvement. Small businesses are the cornerstone of the U.S. economy, and our experienced team is anxious to work with our military heroes.”
The program will be advertised primarily on U.S. military bases.
“Boots to Business is vital in connecting entrepreneurs with the vast ecosystem of SBA resources,” said SBA Associate Administrator of Veterans Business Development Barb Carson. “SBA is proud to administer this critical foundation for sustaining veteran entrepreneurship as a pillar of America’s small business economy.”
The new program is meant to serve as a follow-on program to the two-step Boots to Business program offered through the Syracuse University Institute for Veteran and Military Families.
Local veterans interested in Boots to Business can contact the MSU Veterans Business Outreach Center at 662-324-4490.