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Rider University announced March 29 that applications are open for its Veterans Entrepreneurial Training Program, which is now in its 11^th year.

The free six-week summer program supports veterans who want to develop a business concept or grow an existing business. VET is run through Rider’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies – and made possible through support of the New Jersey Bankers Charitable Foundation.

Ron Cook, the center’s founder and executive director who teaches the program, noted that participants enter at different phases of their entrepreneurial journey. “We have vets investigating the basic idea of – ‘should I be starting anything?’ We have other vets who come in with a business concept and they want to determine its feasibility, and we have others who are looking to grow their business with a new line of inquiry,” said Cook.

Participants will receive personalized feedback, access to Rider’s library database – which provides detailed information about their concept’s industry, demographics and competition. Upon completion of the classroom portion, veterans will receive one year of mentoring while pursuing their venture.

“The program was a great learning experience, a tremendous source of information and resources from start to finish, and definitely worth the time and effort,” said Al Procell, a retired commercial pilot who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Procell enrolled in the program last summer and established a family business offering those of Polish heritage interested in securing ancestral birth certificates or other family records a direct connection to legal services in Poland.

“The VET Program offered a tremendous amount of information and resources that enabled me to continue developing my business efforts long after the program was finished,” Procell added.

Registration is offered on a first-come, first-served basis – with space limited to 20 students to allow for maximum instructor feedback and individualized attention. Applicants must be a veteran, veteran spouse or dependent of a veteran – and have a business concept to pursue to be eligible.

More information on the VET Program can be found here.