SBDC encourages veteran entrepreneurship, teams with Bunker labs for ‘Muster Across Wisconsin’ at Lambeau Field

Tara Carr, director of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay gets ready for Muster Across Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

Bunker Labs is working exclusively with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to encourage veteran entrepreneurship and spark business ownership. The SBDC at UW-Green Bay will be a featured speaker at the Muster Across Wisconsin event, May 24, 2017 at Lambeau Field.

United States veterans have a long history of entrepreneurship. This event will help inspire, educate and connect military veteran entrepreneurs to the business startup community. The SBDC will be promoting its no-cost business counseling services, as well as the Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP). — an eight-week course based on the “Lean Startup Framework”, which helps aspiring entrepreneurs test their business ideas and develop a business plan. With the new Bunker Labs/SBDC initiative, veterans or their immediate family could have the ETP course covered 100% and earn an extra $250, contingent upon successful completion.

After World War II, 49 percent of military veterans became entrepreneurs who owned and operated a business and helped lead America’s post-war economic boom.* Approximately 40 percent of Korean War veterans did the same, creating millions of jobs along the way.

Today, however, the Department of Defense estimates that 200,000 service members transition from active duty in the U.S. each of the next five years, and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families has found that more than 20 percent of them want to start their own business but only six percent will become entrepreneurs. Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, that translates to 3,500 veterans and 700 potential new businesses each year to join the 40,147 veteran-owned businesses in Wisconsin.

Professional networks are essential for returning veterans; especially aspiring entrepreneurs and those transitioning back to communities they have not lived near in many years. As a result, local events that feature business networking and professional development are vital to helping veterans succeed as leaders in business and innovation in their communities.

Bunker Labs Wisconsin Inc. is among the founding cohort/locations of the leading national network of military veteran entrepreneurs that was created to help fellow veterans start and grow businesses.

The “Muster Across Wisconsin” 2017 tour is designed to build and lead premier business events at UW System campus cities in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Extension Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and the Wisconsin Technology Council. These events will showcase successful business leaders and entrepreneurs who happen to be military veterans, empower local business/entrepreneurial ecosystems, and “Inspire-Educate-Connect” local markets with mentorship, access to investment capital, and innovative leaders and ideas.

The UW-Green Bay SBDC offers the Entrepreneurial Training Program in Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Door, Brown and Marinette counties.

*according to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF).