BWF and IVMF Support Vetrepreneurs - Bob Woodruff Foundation

BWF and IVMF Support Vetrepreneurs

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Congratulations to the more than 70 Service Disabled Veteran Small Business owners (pictured) who were awarded scholarships to attend this year’s National Veterans Small Business Conference held August 6-8 in St. Louis.

The three-day event is the Department of Veterans Affairs’ largest nationwide annual conference and presented myriad opportunities for vet’trepreneurs launching their own businesses. Grantees attended classes, networking sessions, and panels to learn more about procuring government contracts, branding, budgeting, and management.

Highlights included a speech by Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki who said, “entrepreneurs like you have historically formed the bedrock of our economy. America’s stories are written by the do-ers—those innovators and risk-takers who see possibility, seek opportunity, resist handwringing, remain fixed on their goals, and overcome the barriers to progress by working long and hard to achieve their dreams. You are the next chapter in that ongoing story. Dream big dreams for all of us.”

Qualified applicants are post-9/11 service-disabled veterans who own, or aspire to own, a small business. Grantees included consultants, inventors, a dessert chef, BBQ creator, a vertical farmer and a sporting goods store owner.

The Bob Woodruff Foundation and The Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF) look very forward to the coming weeks and months as our vet’reps continue to be productive, innovative and collaborative.