School of Business’ Social Enterprise Conference Attracting Leading Scholars, Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
“We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire people,” boasts the website of Greyston Bakery of Yonkers, N.Y.
Recognized as one of the best social enterprise companies in the world, Greyston Bakery’s mission is to provide individuals with employment, skills and resources to lift them out of poverty.Continue Reading
Dean John Elliott and the UConn School of Business are proud to announce the 2015 Hall of Fame inductees:
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI INDUCTEES
Brigadier General James S. Creedon ’53, USAF (RET)
President, Creedon Consulting, LLC
Posthumous
David B. Greenfield ’84
UConn Foundation Board of Directors
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
The Hanover Insurance Company
Norman W. LaCroix ’72 MBA
Partner & Co-founder
Decision Analytics Group
Wendy Reeves Watkins ’74
UConn Foundation Board of Directors
Celebration of Veterans Initiatives
As part of our Hall of Fame celebration this year, we will also be celebrating the School’s long-standing commitment to our United States veterans.
Please join us for the 2015 Hall of Fame Celebration at the Connecticut Convention Center on Friday, May 8th. For more information, please click here or contact Amanda Spada at Amanda.Spada@business.uconn.edu or by calling 860-486-5498.
CNBC – For a variety of reasons, the solution to joblessness among veterans may be to prod more of them toward entrepreneurship. “This gap is a nut that’s hard to crack, but I actually truly believe that veteran-owned businesses are going to be the thing that heals our country in the next 15 years,” said Michael Zacchea, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and director of the University of Connecticut’s Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.
The UConn School of Business is among the “Best for Veterans—Business Schools 2015” according to a report released Monday by Military Times.
UConn ranked No. 54 nationally, in a year that saw record applications and a process that was highly competitive. It is one of many recognitions that the University has received for its veteran programs, which include an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). Last year, the UConn EBV and School of Business were recognized by Newman’s Own Foundation as one of the five best veteran non-profit organizations in the country.
When Management Professor Rich Dino started a course that helps non-business majors write a business plan, it filled almost instantly. He scheduled two more classes, and the same thing happened.
“This semester I have students majoring in everything from physics to music, and their different views enhance the class,” Dino said. “The doors are open to anyone with ideas.”Continue Reading
An October graduate of the School of Business’ Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) has placed in the top five in a rigorous business start-up competition.
Mike Ennis, a retired Marine with experience as a military recruiter, successfully explained and defended his plan for a start-up called Veterans and Executive Talent Search (VETS) recruiting company, which will seek medical personnel interested in working for the Veterans Administration.
Ennis, who is from the Groton area, has already secured the support of a key angel investor, said Michael Zacchea ’12 MBA, director of the EBV program. Ennis impressed a panel of judges, all entrepreneurs or inventors, to place in the 18th annual Connecticut Collegiate Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Foundation of Fairfield. Ennis was awarded free use of office space to grow his business at The Grove in New Haven.
His business will augment the Veteran’s Choice and Accountability Act, which seeks to expand VA services, including the number of doctors and mental health professionals, Zacchea said. Ennis currently works as a veteran employment specialist at the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The School of Business offers a nine-day Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities each year. The intensive course is funded by private donations and features the expertise of UConn faculty. While enrolled in the boot camp, veterans learn everything from creating a business plan to finding funding. They are offered additional planning support for their businesses during the ensuing year. The UConn program, now in its fifth year, has been recognized as one of the nation’s best for military personnel.
The 2014 EBV class was exceptional, Zacchea said. Twenty-six students were accepted into the class and there was no attrition, despite the difficult schedule, which started with 8 a.m. classes and continued with homework until midnight. Nine of the graduates from this class have already started businesses and a tenth will launch this month. Two others have accepted full-time jobs and another graduate enrolled in an MBA program, Zacchea said.
Providence Journal – “It was amazing,” says Steven D’Amico, referring to UConn’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV).
“You’re there for nine days, 18 hours a day, on your business. At the end of the time, you have to do a pitch.” D’Amico was one of 25 disabled veterans who attended the UConn EBV program (one of 8 nationwide) last October. He plans to use his business to help other injured veterans.
Steven Therrien, of Harwinton, Conn., has what he believes is a great idea for creating a superior solar panel that would capture some of the sun’s energy that is now lost.
But Therrien, a former Navy corpsman and advanced x-ray technologist, was overwhelmed at the prospect of starting his own business.
“Before, I looked at it as an insurmountable mountain,” he said.
After enrolling in a nine-day Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), sponsored by the UConn School of Business, he has increased confidence that he can make his business plan a reality.
The course is funded exclusively by private donations and features the expertise of UConn business faculty. This year, 26 veterans learned everything from how to write a business plan to finding funding. They developed social media skills and took a course on “discovering your personal genius.”
“It’s very flattering and humbling that so many people are willing to give their time and themselves to help a veteran,” Therrien said. “We all appreciate it very much.”
This fall, UConn’s EBV was recognized at the Pentagon by Newman’s Own, Fisher House Foundation and the Military Times as one of the nation’s best and most innovative programs for improving the quality of life for U.S. military personnel.
This is the fifth year that the EBV program has been offered at UConn. Seven of the veterans hail from Connecticut; most of the rest are from neighboring states. This year’s class was composed of 19 men and seven women.
“This was a great class, the first one that we had with no attrition at all from acceptance through graduation,” said program Director Michael Zacchea. “Our veterans said it was an amazing and transformative event.”
“These people aren’t in it for the money,” Zacchea said. “Every vet here wants to solve a problem. They are very focused on ‘mission accomplished.’ Because our veterans all come from diverse backgrounds, we offer a very hands-on program. We tell them how to find an accountant, a lawyer, how to establish a relationship with a bank.”
What makes the bootcamp unique is it addresses the veterans’ holistic needs—even providing a free suite and laptop for the future business
owners. It also offers mentorship for a year, to help veterans identify and overcome business barriers. The UConn program is also part of a larger community of veteran entrepreneurs throughout the country. The rigorous course usually had veterans working on their businesses until midnight.
Since they graduated on Oct. 10, the veterans have been preparing their business plans, for which they could be awarded a $3,000 grant to use as seed money.
“I would tell everyone to hire a veteran,” said Rosita Campbell of New Jersey, a bootcamp graduate, who wants to own her own fitness center. “We are dependable, reliable and offer standards of service and excellence that are beyond what is expected. We also have incredible integrity. All of that has been ingrained in us from a young age.”
See photos from the UConn EBV program.
LinkedIn.com – On Friday, October 10th, the University of Connecticut (Uconn) Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans made history during their annual business pitch competition. Over 20 startup companies led by military veteran leaders pitched their businesses LIVE on air in 4 separate classrooms to determine which startup would win the cash prize!