VETRN’s President, Lee Goldberg and Program Manager, David Ferrara are excited to announce the start of the 2023 VETRN MBA Online program on September 16, 2023. The 2023 online cohort includes 18 veteran small business owners, service-disabled veteran, and family members from 12 states across the USA. This class starts our 10th year of the VETRN MBA training program, teaching veteran participants how to successfully grow their veteran owned small business. To date, more than 100 veteran small business owners and family members have graduated from the VETRN program, with many successes and successful pivot stories to date. The VETRN MBA program is free of charge to the veterans and family members accepted into the program.
To all of you who have provided VETRN with sponsorship and support in 2022 and in prior years, thank you very much for your continued support and for helping veterans and family members achieve their dreams and goals of becoming successful small business owners.
The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has now recognized the success of the VETRN program, and on October 3, 2022, announced that VETRN is one of four programs nationally that will receive 100% funding for its VETRN MBA Program to train veteran and service-disabled veteran small business owners in entrepreneurship and how to successfully grow their veteran owned small business. In issuing the press release, Administrator Isabella Guzman stated, “Through our Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program, the SBA is giving our existing training programs a boost to better serve and support these dedicated, mission driven entrepreneurs.” The SBA grant is a non-competitive bid grant over a four-year period.
As the VETRN MBA program is now a national online program, identifying local resources and mentors for each of our class participants continues to be a challenge. In addition to our own substantial list of mentors, guest experts, panel judges, and professional resources, who have selflessly volunteered their time, our heartfelt thank you goes out to the SBA VBOC regional chapters, the regional SBDC Chapters and SCORE Chapters, with special thanks to the NH Seacoast SCORE Chapter and the TMA NYC Chapter Pro Bono Committee for your mentor support so that every VETRN participant across the country has access to a personal mentor.
VETRN also welcomes Ed Brzychcy and Walter Schuppe as guest experts to the 2023 VETRN MBA program. Ed is an Adjunct Professor at Babson College and coaches business leaders on Team Building. Ed is a seasoned commercial finance executive and SVP with Pacific Western Bank.
In recognition of the continuing revenue and cash flow challenges to small businesses throughout the country, we will continue to teach our class in 2023 on: “How to Manage Through a Financial Crisis” VETRN will also give its participants the option of preparing a 12-month turnaround plan in lieu of a growth plan. VETRN will also continue with contracts with LivePlan and IBISWorld to provide additional tools and resources to our VETRN participants to augment its intensive 14-week curriculum.
So, as we begin our 2023 VETRN MBA program, David and I are very appreciative of everyone involved with the VETRN program and are excited about teaching this year’s cohort. We look forward to the continued expansion of the VETRN MBA program, our veteran small business network, our VETRN graduate community and the VETRN support community.