Helping Veterans Become Entrepreneurs

| By: Britten, Casey

The Venture Center at Fox Valley Technical College is offering the region’s first-ever entrepreneur training designed specifically for returning United States military veterans.

The initiative supports the unique leadership skills of veterans by providing them with coaching, resources and a pathway to success as small business owners. Thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and additional support from FVTC’s Veterans Resource Center, the ENVoy program will train an initial pool of 16 veterans in the college’s district.

Participants will meet once a week for 14 weeks and explore topics like financing, marketing, legal issues, government regulations, growth strategies, and more, in addition to developing their own business plan. The training curriculum is from the Venture Center’s renowned E-seedTM entrepreneur experience. Successful business launches from E-seed have contributed more than 350 companies and 1,500 employees toward the economic vitality of the region. The program is also offered as a national train-the-trainer course module.