COLUMBIA MARYLAND SPRING 2013 CLASS – Consulting, Training, and Development Services partnered with The Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, The Howard County Tech Council, the Howard County Community College Center for Entrepreneurship and the local Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulations Veterans Employment Representative to provide Project Opportunity^SM to veterans in the Columbia Maryland area. The Orientation Sessions were conducted on March 14 and 28, 2013 with a total of sixteen veterans in attendance. Fourteen of the veterans at the Orientation Session indicated a desire to move forward to the next screening process, the telephonic assessment. . After the completion of the telephonic screening assessments a total of 11 veterans were accepted into the program. Here is a summary of their business ventures:

• Consultant in Biomedical Field
• IT Consulting Company (3 veterans are partnering in this venture)
• Sports Bar
• Disability physical provider
• English language translation services
• Limited veterinary practice
• General contracting business
• Retail nook in fabrics and crafts
• Transportation service

Classes started on April 18, 2013 at the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship. The Howard County Tech Council and the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship worked with us on this project by coordinating the scheduling of subject matter experts and guest speakers.

The Graduation Ceremony was held on June 27^th at the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship.  A total of seven (7) veterans completed the course and graduated from this initial class in the Columbia Maryland area .  One veteran relocated before the course completed and two of the veterans interested in the IT Consulting Company had to withdraw from the course due to conflict of interest issues with their current employers. Those business ventures that these graduating veterans are seeking to start or expand are:

• Consultant in Biomedical Field – Dedmoa Enterprises, LLC
• IT Consulting Company – AG Corporation (LLC with anticipated start date of 01/01/2014)
• Disability physical provider – In process of forming LLC
• English language translation services – BKZ Enterprise
• Limited veterinary practice – Avian Specialties
• General contracting business – Collective Contracting Inc, an S-Corp with projected gross sales of $140K for 2013
• Transportation service

Jason Hardebeck, a US Naval Academy Graduate and Executive Director of the Greater Baltimore Technology Council, was the guest speaker.