VICTRI Programs

The primary activity we plan on engaging in is supporting Veteran entrepreneurs to develop and sustain long-term successful small businesses.  While in the service of their nation, Veterans have learned valuable skills that make them ideal to be entrepreneurs, leaders in the business community and leaders in their neighborhoods.  They have served a mission higher than themselves, received training in leadership, experienced leading teams in stressful and difficult environments, had to make the impossible happen within difficult timelines and have been faced with making extremely difficult decisions that might mean life or death.  Many times, they have had to interact positively with different cultures to achieve their objectives and to “think outside the box” to develop solutions to overwhelming problems.  They have a perseverance that overcomes obstacles by sheer willpower.

Although Veterans may have all of these skills, there is a huge need to take those skills and shape them into business acumen.  Veterans are quick learners, but they have to learn what it is that they have to learn first.  One of the main reasons ninety percent of small businesses fail in the first year is because their owners lack some basic business (financial, management, research, etc.) skills.  By developing an education program that quickly provides an understanding of those skills early on and then providing them often and on a continuous basis will have a dramatic impact on the success rate of Veteran-Owned Businesses (VOB’s) in our community.  By applying a step-stair approach to the education program, we can also move to advanced business skills after Veterans and their family members have had some initial experience in business to continue their education in a practical, efficient and effective manner.  Combined with the support structures discussed below, education at the next level involves peer-to-peer workgroups and mentoring structures that will enhance the learning experience at the same time the participant is doing what they are learning.