{"id":155648,"date":"2024-11-25T08:46:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T13:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=155648"},"modified":"2024-11-25T08:49:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T13:49:56","slug":"new-entrepreneurship-center-opens-at-wright-state-to-help-veterans-spouses-start-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/11\/25\/new-entrepreneurship-center-opens-at-wright-state-to-help-veterans-spouses-start-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"New entrepreneurship center opens at Wright State to help veterans, spouses start, expand businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Local veterans and their spouses who want to start a business now will have a more convenient way to get resources.<\/p>\n

Wright State University\u2019s Veteran and Military Center is now home to a Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) office, one of 31 nationwide and the first to open in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Designed to support these budding entrepreneurs, the Veterans Business Outreach Center will welcome local veterans to explore how best to navigate the programs and opportunities provided by the Small Business Administration.<\/p>\n

The center is a tenant of Wright State\u2019s Veteran and Military Center<\/a> in 131 Allyn Hall.<\/p>\n

The Veterans Business Outreach Center will support veterans and their spouses who pursue a business, an SBA loan or designation as a veteran-owned business to attract federal contracts. Business loans made through the center will be through the Economic and Community Development Institute<\/a> (ECDI), the largest provider of micro-loans to Small Business Administration (SBA) clients in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all about veterans getting access to\u00a0a suite of resources, including business plan development, capital, and mentoring,\u201d said Seth Gordon, Ph.D., director of the Veteran and Military Center.<\/p>\n

Bringing the Veterans Business Outreach Center to Wright State has been in the works for about two years. Wright State is a good landing spot for the business center because of the proximity of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the large number of veterans and their families in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be working with veterans and military spouses who are interested in starting their own businesses or businesses that may already be in their third, fourth or fifth year and are ready to expand,\u201d said William Bowers, the inaugural director of the Veterans Business Outreach Center of Ohio. We\u2019ll provide coaching and consulting and pair folks up with resources they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowers named two programs as examples of what the center can do: Boots to Business, which introduces those who recently left the service to business ownership, and Reboot, for those interested in entrepreneurship but have been a veteran for several years.<\/p>\n

He noted the convenience of having a veteran business center on Wright State\u2019s Dayton Campus. Previously, the closest such office was in Flint, Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone from here wanted counseling, they\u2019d have to rely on email or video, Skype or Zoom,\u201d Bowers said. \u201cNow, an individual can come into my office, close the door, and I\u2019m immediately available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Representatives of Wright State\u2019s Veteran and Military Center, the Small Business Administration and Economic and Community Development Institute celebrated the opening of the first Veterans Business Outreach Center in Ohio.<\/p><\/div>\n

As in the name, the Veterans Business Outreach Center is also about outreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be letting the community know we\u2019re here and to help them start a business,\u201d said Bowers, an Air Force veteran. \u201cIf it\u2019s financing they need \u2014 loans from $500 to $2 million \u2014 or for somebody to look over your financials, marketing plan or website, we\u2019ll have resources available through our partners and the ECDI and the SBA and the surrounding community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sense of community is an important component.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting a business can be a lonely road,\u201d said Nicole Liatos, vice president for entrepreneurship at the Economic and Community Development Institute. \u201cVeterans are often forgotten about and are historically underserved as entrepreneurs. We\u2019re leveling the playing field for them by providing training, coaching and access to capital and giving them a sense of community and a supportive network.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liatos emphasized that the business center serves the entire state of Ohio and will offer programs across the state and virtually.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re highly impressed with Dr. Seth Gordon\u2019s leadership. The partnership is a natural fit,\u201d Liatos said.<\/p>\n

Landing a Veterans Business Outreach Center office is good for Wright State, Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides us with traffic. We\u2019re going to have people from around the state and Indiana and northern Kentucky here to work with VBOC,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll see that Wright State is a military-friendly institution. And it further enhances the connection between Wright State and Wright-Patt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowers sees this as a win-win arrangement for Wright State and budding entrepreneurs, who might not know what questions to ask or what they might need.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe here will hopefully have those answers and those resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Veterans Business Outreach Center at Wright State provides support and resources to veterans and their spouses who want to start a business. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":155656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,725,2039,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-military-veterans","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155648"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155691,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155648\/revisions\/155691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}