Contact: Shirah Apple 414-297-1096/841-7013
Website: http://www.sba.gov/wi
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Boots to Business: Reboot Trains Vets for Business Ownership
MILWAUKEE – The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Wisconsin office is proud to announce new resources for Badger State veterans, service members and their families during National Veterans Small Business Week and in advance of Veterans’ Day on November 11. The office is collaborating with its partners throughout the state and region to deliver SBA’s Boots to Business: Reboot entrepreneurship training program to veterans, service members, and their spouses. A newly established Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) in Chicago is among the partners that will participate.
The Boots to Business: Reboot curriculum will share the fundamentals of business ownership including evaluating business concepts and developing a business plan over two days. Course participants will become familiar with their local SBA resource partners, consisting of Women’s Business Centers, Small Business Development Centers and SCORE and the VBOC.
The first program, hosted by the Western Dairyland Women’s Business Center<http://www.successfulbusiness.org/> in Eau Claire, launches November 9-10 with the second taking place there December 15-16. More Reboot classes are planned for Whitehall, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Appleton, Fond du Lac, Wausau, Madison, and Racine/Kenosha with as many as ten others anticipated. Veterans, service members (including the National Guard and Reserve) and their spouses are eligible to participate
Upon completion of the introductory course, participants will be eligible to register for “Foundations of Entrepreneurship,” an eight-week, online course led by instructors from Syracuse University’s IVMF that offers in-depth instruction on the elements of a business plan and techniques and tips for starting a business.
In an expansion of area support for veterans, the region’s Veterans Business Outreach Center is now based at the Women’s Business Development Center in Chicago, the WBDC announced this week<http://www.wbdc.org/MediaCenter/PressReleases/VBOC.aspx>. The VBOC @WBDC serves veteran and service members in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Hawaii, and Guam with programs including Boots to Business, Boots to Business: Reboot, technical assistance and counseling, financial workshops and clinics, access to capital, procurement, and capacity building services.
To learn more about the Boots to Business: Reboot entrepreneurship training program, visit http://www.sba.gov/bootstobusinessreboot<http://www.sba.gov/bootstobusinessreboot> or contact Frank Demarest, Veterans’ Support Officer in the SBA’s Wisconsin office, at frank.demarest@sba.gov
