Cheshire Veteran Joins Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Vets with Disabilities

A Cheshire veteran seriously injured in Afghanistan will be taking part in a program that helps entrepreneural disabled veterans.

Justin Nash was injured while serving as an Infantry Officer in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was thrown from his vehicle while taking hostile fire in the Pesch River Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. He separated his shoulder and crushed both of his ulnar nerves.

Now he's participating in the University of Connecticut’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) with Disabilities. Nash is a 2012 UConn EBV graduate who founded Veteran Construction Services in Cheshire a year ago.

“I came to the EBV program in October with nothing more than an idea and an ambition," Nash said. "Thanks to the generosity of the program, the amazing support system, and the opportunity to partner with the VA, I am off and running my business and have now won two contracts worth more than $70,000 in revenue while generating a profit."

Now in its fourth year, the EBV program is helping 25 disabled veterans from Connecticut and across the country with a curriculum designed to offer a path to entrepreneurship and a purpose beyond the armed forces. With the support of corporations, local business leaders and others, the veterans are being empowered to transition back to civilian life and gain employment or start their own business.

They join between 2.5 and 3 million U.S. soldiers who have served on active duty following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As many as 30 percent of them, according to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, will leave the service with an enduring physical or mental injury, making it difficult to find and hold traditional jobs.

The program is getting results. Since 2010, the Bootcamp has led more than 60 disabled veterans through the program, helped 42 veterans’ open 45 businesses, and placed another eight veterans in full-time jobs. 

Nash's company is now open for business and is generating a profit. Nash's first contract, a bathroom accessibility renovation project for a 91-year-old World War II veteran, struck a particular chord with him. He says EBV provided the needed resources to help him succeed.

"I've wanted to run my own business for as long as I can remember," Nash said. "My father was a general contractor, so I understood the technical side before EBV, but the program gave me the business knowledge and support I needed. I saw that I wasn't in this alone.”

Nash said he believes veterans bring a perspective that provides an advantage in business. 

"Veterans know time management, how to get stuff done and they have the drive to see things through," he said. "A lot of what you learn in the military comes into play running a business."

UConn’s EBV will welcome the new class of 25 veterans when they begin the 10-day bootcamp on Oct. 3. Each will be outfitted with tailored business attire courtesy of Brooks Brothers and also receive laptop computers resulting from the generous donations of many businesses.