Florida State University and the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship graduated 19 caregivers of veterans and family members of active duty military personnel from the 2019 Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families program, Friday, Sept. 20.
This is the fifth class of participants to complete the program, which is run by the Jim Moran Institute housed in the FSU College of Business.
“The Jim Moran Institute has now graduated more than 90 veteran caregivers and military family members from the EBV-Families programs at FSU,” said Melissa Roberts, managing director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. “We are honored to play our part educating these inspiring entrepreneurs on the basics of business ownership and providing a path forward for military families.”
During the five-day residential program held at the Jim Moran Building in downtown Tallahassee, entrepreneurial experts led participants through a variety of workshops and breakout sessions that focused on how to start a business or take their current business to the next level.
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families (EBV-F) program integrates training in small-business management with caregiver and family issues, positioning a family member to launch and grow a small business in a way that complements or enhances other family responsibilities.
A key component of the training covered the Business Model Canvas, an alternative to business plan development that helps small businesses invest time into building products and services based on the needs of early customers. Other topics included supply chain management, social entrepreneurship, business concept development, profit models, franchise models, resource acquisition strategies, entrepreneurial finance and finding opportunities, operations and operating models, human resource management, and legal and regulatory challenges.
Before arriving at the Jim Moran Institute, participants completed a three-week online portion of the program to prepare for the residency in Tallahassee. The online portion consisted of assigned readings that class members analyzed and reviewed in discussion boards.
In addition to funding provided by the Jim Moran Institute, local sponsors, such as Gordo’s, RedEye Coffee, Goodies, Canopy Road Café, Willie Jewel’s BBQ, the FSU Student Veterans Center and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, allowed the EBV-F program to be offered at no cost to participants.
In addition to three Floridians who took part in this year’s program, participants hailed from Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.