Oct. 3, 2024

Veterans with service-connected disabilities from 13 states recently participated in the University of Missouri's entrepreneurship bootcamp, a program that empowers them to employ the skills, resources and infrastructure of higher education to boost their businesses. Only eight universities in the U.S. offer the program.

"There's so much great information, it's like drinking from a firehose," said Dave Richards, who spent his formative years in Kingston, Jamaica, before serving 28 years in the U.S. Army.

Currently, Richards owns the Island Spice Jamaican Restaurant in Leavenworth, Kansas. He applied to participate in Mizzou's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) program to take his jerk sauce business to the next level.

EBV included an intense eight-day residency on Mizzou's campus and an online business fundamentals course taught by J. Scott Christianson, associate teaching professor of management and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the MU Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business.

Stacie Kane, an assistant teaching professor responsible for many of Mizzou's entrepreneurial courses, also taught and coached EBV's 2024 class, which included veterans from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard.

"Veterans have such a different mindset than college students," Kane said. "These individuals have served our country in some really tumultuous situations. They have that drive and that grit that you really need as an entrepreneur."

Consistently ranked as a military friendly school, Mizzou has a long history of providing services and resources like EBV aimed at improving the lives of military students and veterans.

"One thing that makes Mizzou's program stand out is that we involve our entire mid-Missouri entrepreneurship ecosystem," said Greg Bier, EBV program director. "We brought in 25 experts from the community who are successful in their fields. This enables them to share practical tools and take a deep dive when answering questions and helping participants research and solve problems."

MU Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business