Purdue University will host 28 veterans beginning Oct. 25 for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities. Purdue’s Krannert School of Management is one of eight schools at universities around the country that teach the bootcamp, which is aimed at helping post-9/11 veterans with disabilities start their own businesses.

The veterans will be in the Indianapolis area Oct. 25-28 and then will be on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus for the next week. Created at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management in 2007, EBV teaches participants principles of entrepreneurship and small business management. All expenses are paid.

The program is conducted in three phases: a self-study session in which veterans complete courses through online discussions moderated by university faculty; an intensive, on-campus residency session where veterans learn to develop their own business concepts and understand the basic elements of small-business management; and a 12-month mentorship with faculty experts at the participating universities. Students are accepted into the program based on the quality of their proposals for starting their own businesses.

This year’s Krannert class comes from 17 states, including four participants from Indiana: Chad Christman, an Army veteran from Fort Wayne; Gloria Maddox, an Army National Guard veteran from Franklin; Gabriel Nix, an Army Reserve veteran from Carmel; and Craig Triscari, an Army veteran from Lebanon.

The bootcamp integrates faculty, entrepreneurs, disability experts and business professionals. Veterans receive instruction on topics such as feasibility and market analysis, supply chain management, and financing new ventures. Among the speakers the veterans will hear in addition to Krannert administrators and faculty are William Oesterle, co-founder of Angie’s List; Scott Wise, founder of the Scotty’s Brewhouse restaurant chain; Tim Powers, president of School Datebooks; Jason Levin, partner in DLA Piper global law firm; Joe Bozich, CEO of Knights Apparel; Roland Parrish, owner of Parrish McDonald’s Restaurants; and Lt. Gen. C.D. Moore II, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

The veterans will be recognized during a performance by Cirque Chinois at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel on Oct. 27 and during the Purdue-Penn State football game in West Lafayette on Nov. 3. In addition to Krannert and Syracuse, others in the consortium are the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management; the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University; the Florida State University College of Business; the University of Connecticut School of Business; E.J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University; and Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Source: Purdue University