Contact: Deborah P. Scott

STARKVILLE, Miss.— The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has exercised Mississippi State University’s Boots to Business Revenue Readiness Program’s Option Year One cooperative agreement contract for $824,099.   Mississippi State University (MSU) will continue providing Boots to Business Revenue Readiness – Business Model to Business Plan – entrepreneurship training to military service members, military spouses and veterans, both within the continental United States and overseas.

MSU will continue to successfully partner with the SBA Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) to deliver Boots to Business Revenue Readiness (B2B RR) training to veterans and/or their spouses. Based on curriculum that MSU developed as part of their 2016 SBA award in the “Lean for Main Street Training Challenge”, participants in this program will learn how to develop a clear vision of their individual business model, and then translate to a business plan. 

“The Boots to Business Revenue Readiness Course is an accelerated learning experience designed to help entrepreneurial-minded veterans take their ideas from a concept to a business plan in a short six-week period.” said Mississippi State University College of Business Dean Sharon Oswald.  “Small businesses are the cornerstone of the U.S. economy and our experienced team of small business owners are proud to work with our veterans.”

After attending the Boots to Business Introduction to Entrepreneurship course, veterans/spouses may elect to take more in-depth follow on courses. MSU’s B2B RR is one of the “follow on” courses and is a lean (compressed) approach to developing a business plan. Over a six-week period of interactive virtual classroom instruction, the veteran/spouse will develop and refine their business model into a business plan. All of this is accomplished with constant feedback from an instructor team of successful veteran small business owners.

“Attending an in-person Boots to Business is a great first step in a veteran’s entrepreneurial journey,” said acting SBA Associate Administrator of Veterans Business Development, Larry Stubblefield.  “We are thrilled to be able to offer programs like the B2B Revenue Readiness Course to help our veterans as they take their next steps.”

“Boots to Business Revenue Readiness Course is delivered worldwide to our veterans and spouses through a live interactive video conferencing system.  And to enhance the program we record all sessions to allow for review and catch up, just in case real world situations arise that may prevent a participant from attending a live class.” said Debbie Scott, Program Director of the B2B RR Course. “The additional one on one interaction between the veteran/spouse with our instructors further enhances their business plan development.”

To learn more about the Boots to Business Revenue Readiness Course, please visit www.bootstobusiness.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu