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Small Business Administration Launches Boots To Business: Reboot
Written by Tim Morral
Published: 6/19/2014
The Small Business Administration will launch its Boots to Business: Reboot on July 11 at the White House. This expands SBA's current post-military entrepreneurship training efforts to all veterans interested in opening their own business.
The Boots to Business: Reboot has expanded the program to allow the 23 million veterans who have already assimilated to civilian life the opportunity to enroll into the program.
The Reboot, modeled after the original program, begins with a two-day course taught by SBA experts in 12 cities across the nation. After the two-day course, veterans have the option for a follow-on eight-week online course from Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families on the fundamentals of developing a business plan.
Up to 100 veterans and their spouse can attend the two-day course in each city--free of charge. Officials did not announce how many veterans will participate in the program beyond the initial 1,200 participants.
Upon completion of the course, participants in both programs are introduced to various SBA resources to help access start-up capital and additional technical assistance.
The SBA stated the program's goal is to give participants "the tools and knowledge they need to identify a business opportunity and launch their enterprise."
Boots to Business was created in 2012 by the SBA and the U.S. Marine Corp to combat high unemployment rates among returning veterans as compared to the rest of the population. The existing program is offered as an elective track within the Department of Defense's transition assistance efforts.
The curriculum teaches veterans exploring self-employment opportunities the key steps in evaluating business concepts and the foundational knowledge required to develop a business plan, according to the Boots to Business website.
SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said veterans now own one in 10 businesses that generate more than $1 trillion in annual sales. It will be interesting to see what role the SBA will play in economic recovery as the program continues to evolve.
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