Entrepreneurship bootcamp helps veterans launch business ventures

Shilo Harris and family

A 2011 graduate of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) will serve as the keynote speaker Saturday night for the program at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.

Shilo A. Harris began his public speaking career after completing the boot camp, and is writing a book, Steel Will, with a contact he met while he was in the program. He and his family received a house through ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Helping a Hero” in 2012.

The EBV offers training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to our country.  The EBV at Texas A&M is a collaboration between the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and the Center for Executive Development at Mays.

On Aug. 3, the participants will hear from an alumni panel, give their final venture pitches and participate in a closing reception. The speaker at the closing ceremony will be Frederick D. McClure of the George Bush Foundation.

Of this year’s 25 participants, eight are from out of state — Missouri, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. The Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force are all represented.

The cost is about $5,000 per participant, but corporate sponsors and private individuals provide funding so that the veterans are allowed to attend the entire program — including tuition, travel and accommodations — at no cost.

About the EBV

The EBV Consortium was formed in 2008 as a national educational initiative designed to help veterans with disabilities to make the transition to self-employment, develop professional networks and ultimately start and grow sustainable businesses. The EBV Consortium is composed of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, the College of Business at The Florida State University, the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, the College of Business at the University of Connecticut, the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

About Mays Business School

Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School educates more than 5,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. Mays consistently ranks among the top public business schools in the country for its undergraduate and MBA programs, and for faculty research. The mission of Mays Business School is creating knowledge and developing ethical leaders for a global society.