CCEI

Meriden Veteran Goes from Military Service to Entrepreneurship

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Record-Journal- When Gulaid and Davina Ismail’s second child Issaq was born three years ago, the child suffered from acid reflux so badly he threw up often. The couple was going through plenty of infant clothes.

“We were constantly changing clothes and throwing them out when they get stained,” Davina said. “So we asked ourselves ‘why don’t we start making clothes ourselves?'”

Gulaid Ismail, a U.S. Marine who served seven months in Fallujah, Iraq, was able to get some assistance from Veterans Administration programs and the couple soon started Dribblebabies, a baby and toddler web-based store for parents five years after his honorable discharge.

Honoring Veterans 365 Days a Year

Posted on by Claire Hall
Angel Charles, Connecticut National Guard and 2015 EBV Participant
Angel Charles, Connecticut National Guard and 2015 EBV Participant (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

 

UConn’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans Helps Military Heroes Become Business Moguls

The UConn School of Business has a strong and proud history of serving the educational and career needs of military leaders and veterans, a tradition that dates back to its earliest days.

After WWII, the university offered business classes at Fort Trumbull in New London to serve returning GIs. The creation of a full-time MBA program on the Storrs campus in 1960, another milestone at the School of Business, occurred as a direct result of a contract to expand educational opportunities for members of the Air Force.Continue Reading

How Veterans Can Sign Up for Entrepreneurial Training Through College Initiatives

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

New York Post- Last year, Army Reserves veteran Dr. Stephannie L. Addo-Zuniga was knee-deep in the trenches on a daily basis from 8 a.m. to midnight, relying on her tenacity and perseverance to pull her through.

This wasn’t army bootcamp, but an intense learning initiative offered through Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities at the University of Connecticut.

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New Leadership Is ‘UConn Strong’

Posted on by Claire Hall
George Plesko, Lucy Gilson
George Plesko and Lucy Gilson (Melissa Ferrigno/UConn School of Business)

Seasoned Professors Take on New Roles in Accounting, Management

In their new roles as department heads in management and accounting, Professors Lucy Gilson and George Plesko say they plan to build on their departments’ traditions of success while expanding partnerships within and beyond UConn.

“I am honored to take the helm of the management department and humbled by the trust that my colleagues have placed in me,” Gilson said. “This is a fantastic department with some of the most productive scholars at the University and some of the finest teachers. Over 70 percent of our faculty received letters from the Provost praising them on their teaching excellence.”Continue Reading

Illuminate Global

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UConn Business Students Attend Harvard University Innovation Conference

UConn students attended the inaugural Illuminate Global Conference on October 3-4, 2015 at Harvard University. The primary focus of Illuminate Global is to foster and facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship among ambitious and high-achieving undergraduate students. The conference was organized by Harvard Ventures, Harvard’s undergraduate entrepreneurial group. Chuyue Zhou, Conference Chair and Harvard University junior stated, “At Harvard there was a gap in the programming in business between undergraduate and graduate levels. About nine months ago we decided to create this conference to focus on innovation.”Continue Reading

‘Top Notch’

Posted on by Claire Hall
UConn EBV Class of 2015
EBV Class of 2015 (Lisa Ducharme)

UConn Graduates 25 from EBV Program; Veteran Entrepreneurs Poised to Start Own Businesses

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, retired U.S. Marine Corp. Staff Sergeant Lawrence “LD” Dapo’s assignment was to fly then-Vice President Cheney to an undisclosed, secure location.

“It was all business that day,” Dapo recalled. “I had no time to reflect on the tragedy until afterwards. But that was the day I knew I would marry my wife. She was quite the trooper.”Continue Reading

Terrific Tea-riffic!

Posted on by Claire Hall
Mario Leite ’98 and Souvannee Leite ’98
Mario Leite ’98 and Souvannee Leite ’98 (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Enterprising Husband-and-Wife Team Create Award-Winning, Tea-infused Ice Cream

What happens when you combine two of America’s top comfort foods with the ambition and knowledge of an enterprising UConn husband-and-wife team?

The result is an award-winning, tea-infused dessert, called Tea•rrific! Ice Cream. The company, founded in 2011, is now producing 23,000 pints of ice cream a month, which is sold at Whole Foods, Stop & Shop and specialty stores and restaurants from Maine to the Washington D.C.-area.Continue Reading

Accelerate UConn Welcomes 1st Class of Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

UConn Health- Accelerate UConn, a National Science Foundation (NSF) entrepreneurship program at UConn, has selected 10 faculty-student teams to receive seed grants and business training aimed at more quickly and successfully commercializing early-stage technologies developed at the University.