Former Marine Sgt. Shawn James has found moving from the military world to the business world a difficult journey.
Add a disability, and potential partners shy away in droves, said the 33-year-old San Diego resident, who dreams of starting a company involving hybrid vehicles.
"There's a stigma attached, and while I could dispel a lot of that if given the opportunity, it's that first initial access that's the problem," said James, who was left with respiratory problems and lower back pain from injuries sustained during a severe storm in the Indian Ocean.
So he's spent the last several days with 14 other men at the all-expenses-paid Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities at UCLA. Offered for the first time by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the program is based on a model launched by Syracuse University last year and replicated this year at Texas A&M University, Florida State University and Syracuse University.
From Aug. 2 until Saturday's graduation, the veterans absorbed the basics of entrepreneurship from speakers and teaching assistants -- many also veterans -- and Anderson School faculty members. Participants also worked through online courses in the three weeks before they arrived and will be mentored by faculty members over the next year.
The program's intense 12- to 13-hour days were no sweat, despite being crammed with one-on-one sessions and talks from people such as Richard Heckmann, founder of US Filter and Heckmann Corp. and a Vietnam veteran. After all, as former Army company commander Stephen Thomas said, "these guys have been to real boot camp."
"This week is my vacation for the summer," joked Thomas, 44, of Tennessee. Fresh off a year learning about technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he is headed to Huntsville, Ala., to help manage a project related to unmanned ground vehicles.
Thomas said he'd like to eventually open a small events center in Huntsville with the marketing, strategy and operations tips he's learned at UCLA Anderson.
For nearly 20 years, the Anderson School has operated comparable programs for women and minorities, said Al Osborne, the school's senior associate dean. Veterans also need help in bringing their entrepreneurial visions to life, and the ones struggling with injuries and psychological trauma, along with insecurities about their business abilities, are more likely to abandon their goals, he said.
