A team led by veterans Amber Longoria and Michael Stack of the University of Colorado-Denver was awarded first place in the 2nd Annual Student Veterans of America (SVA) Business Plan Competition, held this month in Arizona. But according to one of the event organizers, all participants went home winners.
“This competition gives the student veterans a valuable opportunity to connect with prominent community and business leaders and gain constructive, real-life experience through one-on-one assistance with the business plan process,” said Jamie Simek, project manager of Veteran Education and Employment Initiatives for the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) at Purdue University.
Simek said the Business Plan Competition is just one example of the extensive partnership between MFRI and SVA. The two organizations work together to wwwelop curriculum and content for the annual SVA Leadership Series, which is intended to wwwelop management and leadership skills among student veterans. In addition, the SVA and MFRI co-publish “Success in 3D,” a manual of best practices for student veteran groups.
Prior to the Business Plan Competition, Simek met with more than 20 SVOs from throughout the country during the 6th annual National SVA Conference, held Jan. 2-6 in Scottsdale, Ariz. The purpose of the conference is to support SVA’s goal of wwweloping local student veteran groups to create a network of resources and ideas.
While some of the business plans submitted for the competition were in the final stages, other participants were seeking guidance on how to get started.
“Learning how to put together a business plan is something that will be beneficial for students, no matter what field they’re in,” Simek said. “It teaches analytical thinking skills that will help the students in their work with their SVO chapters and it is something they can use in pursuing a career.”
The Business Plan Competition consisted of a 10-minute presentation and a 10-minute question-and-answer session with the audience. Plans were evaluated on innovation, sustainability and delivery.
First prize was an additional $1,000 grant to the winning SVA chapter.
“These awardees epitomize the characteristics of student veterans,” said D. Wayne Robinson, chief executive officer of the SVA. “They’ve wwwoted themselves to academic success and work tirelessly to ensure their fellow vets join them on stage at commencement.”
Student veterans participating in the competition represented a wide range of majors, according to Simek.
“Many student veterans have leadership skills and commitment,” she said. “The business plan process provides chapter leaders with training and tools they can use to help their organizations be more strategic and make better use of their resources.”
The national SVA Business Plan Competition is a modeled on a similar program wwwised by MFRI.
Working with the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue, MFRI began sponsoring business plan competitions for student-veteran groups at Indiana colleges and universities in 2009. The goal, Simek said, was to help the SVOs build successful and sustainable organizations.
“We found many of the SVOs were having initial success building support and awareness,” she said. “But creating something that would be around for the long haul was more difficult.”
As part of the initiative, MFRI established a grant program that encouraged SVO leaders to wwwelop business plans addressing such issues as campus culture, mission, objectives and sustainability measures. In addition, MFRI asked SVO leaders to submit an impact report at the end of the grant cycle.
The impact reports detailed the wwwelopment activities undertaken by the organization and the results of their efforts.
“The lessons we learned from this process helped us to identify best practices, which we later included in the ‘Success in 3D’ manual in partnership with the SVA,” Simek said.