Tallahassee, Fla. — Florida State University and the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship graduated 19 caregivers of veterans and family members of active duty military personnel from the 2019 Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families program, Friday, Sept. 20.

This is the fifth class of participants to complete the program, which is run by the Jim Moran Institute housed in the FSU College of Business.

“The Jim Moran Institute has now graduated more than 90 veteran caregivers and military family members from the EBV-Families programs at FSU,” said Melissa Roberts, managing director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. “We are honored to play our part educating these inspiring entrepreneurs on the basics of business ownership and providing a path forward for military families.”

During the five-day residential program held at the Jim Moran Building in downtown Tallahassee, entrepreneurial experts led participants through a variety of workshops and breakout sessions that focused on how to start a business or take their current business to the next level.

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans’ Families (EBV-F) program integrates training in small-business management with caregiver and family issues, positioning a family member to launch and grow a small business in a way that complements or enhances other family responsibilities.

A key component of the training covered the Business Model Canvas, an alternative to business plan development that helps small businesses invest time into building products and services based on the needs of early customers. Other topics included supply chain management, social entrepreneurship, business concept development, profit models, franchise models, resource acquisition strategies, entrepreneurial finance and finding opportunities, operations and operating models, human resource management, and legal and regulatory challenges.

Before arriving at the Jim Moran Institute, participants completed a three-week online portion of the program to prepare for the residency in Tallahassee. The online portion consisted of assigned readings that class members analyzed and reviewed in discussion boards.

In addition to funding provided by the Jim Moran Institute, local sponsors, such as Gordo’s, RedEye Coffee, Goodies, Canopy Road Café, Willie Jewel’s BBQ, the FSU Student Veterans Center and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, allowed the EBV-F program to be offered at no cost to participants.

In addition to three Floridians who took part in this year’s program, participants hailed from Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

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About the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship
The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship cultivates, trains and inspires entrepreneurial leaders through world-class executive education, applied training, public recognition and leading-edge research. Jim Moran was an automotive pioneer and an entrepreneur at heart, who at the age of 7, sold soda pop at sandlot baseball games in Chicago. With a career that spanned more than six decades, he built an amazing chronicle of achievements in the automobile industry. His vision for the Jim Moran Institute was to provide opportunities that would help others become more successful business owners. A 1995 contribution from Jim and Jan Moran and JM Family Enterprises established the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at the Florida State University College of Business. Since 2011, further enhancements to the Jim Moran Institute and its outreach have been made possible by Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation.

About the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans' Families
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans' Families (EBV-F) is an education and self-employment training program founded in 2010 that expanded to Florida State University in 2012. The EBV-F program is designed to take advantage of the skills, resources and infrastructure of higher education to offer cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management. The program leverages the flexibility inherent in small business ownership to provide a vocational path forward for military family members. EBV-F integrates in entrepreneurship with caregiver and family issues, positioning participants to launch and grow a small business in a way that is complementary or enhancing to other family responsibilities. For more information, visit ebv.vets.syr.edu.