VETRN is proud to announce that, on September 14, 2019, it held a very successful Opening Kickoff Reception to celebrate the start of its New Hampshire VETRN Streetwise ‘MBA’ Program, being held at Service Credit Union in Portsmouth, NH. Fifty veteran small business owners, family members, mentors, guest experts, advisers, guests and representatives of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) attended the Opening Reception. VETRN then held its first class of the 26 week Executive “MBA’ program on September 21, 2019 with 22 veteran small business owners and family members in attendance.
The New Hampshire program is being put on as a result of a grant from the SBA and sponsorship from Service Credit Union. The program is being funded by the SBA and sponsored by Service Credit Union as a thank you to veterans for their military service to our great nation and to help veterans and family members learn the skills necessary to help them successfully grow their small businesses. By attending this award-winning program, veterans have been assigned mentors to help guide their business growth and network with business professionals and other veterans who have successfully transitioned back into civilian life and are now running their own successful businesses. With sincerest thanks from a grateful country and New Hampshire community, there is no cost to attend the VETRN program.
In addition to the veteran small business owners enrolled in the NH VETRN Program, attendees at the Kickoff Reception included: Larry Stubblefield, Associate Administrator, Office of Veterans Business Development of the SBA in Washington, DC; Wendell Davis, New England Regional Director of the SBA; Ray Milano, SBA’s National Director of Veterans Business Outreach Centers; Greta Johannsson, SBA’s New Hampshire District Director and Darrell Byers, President of Interise, the licensor of the Streetwise ‘MBA’ program and a VETRN Partner. Also in attendance were Colonel Hunt Kerrigan, USA Retired and Lt. Colonel Stephanie Kerrigan of the NH Air National Guard. Other guests included John Loughnane, Attorney with the Nuttier Law Firm in Boston; Marry Ellen Rogers, Counsel at TD Bank in Portland, Maine; Amanda Buckley, Veteran Service Officer for Haverhill, MA, and Elizabeth Brown of the Primmer Law Firm in Manchester NH. Ingrid Centurion, VETRN Executive Director, was Host for the Reception.
The VETRN 26-week program features 13 Saturday mornings of classroom work, as well as peer to peer mentoring. The program will cover topics to include: strategic planning, financial management, cash flow forecasting, marketing and sales, human resources, growth plan development, access to capital and legal and government contracting. Participants are assigned a mentor and have access to the VETRN professional resource network and will emerge with a successful, three-year strategic growth plan.
According to Lee Goldberg, VETRN Founder and President, “The Streetwise ‘MBA’ program is designed to build financial management skills, operational capacity, sales and marketing techniques, increased revenues, access to capital, and create sustainable jobs. It is taught in over 70 cities across the USA, and we are proud to now bring this award winning program to the seacoast region of New Hampshire.”
Please visit our website at vetrn.org to learn more about this award-winning program see videos and read testimonials from past VETRN graduates.