The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Veteran’s Business Network will officially launch Sept. 14, but the work is already underway to find recruits and figure out which services the new ARCC group can offer.
There’s really no way to identify veteran-owned businesses right now through various chambers and non-veteran focused organizations, said Derek Lloyd, a veteran himself and membership chair of the new group. The general manager of Duke Concrete Products.
Lloyd said that veterans face the same obstacles that non-veterans face when starting up a business. However, they have a shared history and shared language and experience. The network gives veterans in business or working for a business the opportunity to connect with each other.
The council is being intentional to not supplant any other veteran focused service groups, said Carol Ann Conover, ARCC member services and event manager and liaison to the Veteran’s Business Network.
“There’s a wide array of people who already provide good services to veterans. We want to find a path to distinguish ourselves from what other chambers and organizations are doing,” she said. “We’re not out to duplicate anything.”
The missing piece seemed to be a networking opportunity for veterans who have transitioned out of the military and are either going into business for themselves, or transitioning back into the workplace, Conover said.
“We want a place where members can talk about how best to run their business, your staff, what they should keep from their military experience and apply to their work path, and what they should leave behind. There aren’t many opportunities for veterans to do that,” she said.
Going forward, the vision for the council is to connect ARCC veteran members to service organizations and resources. It’s an opportunity for veteran-owned businesses and military members to have a forum just for them, said Conover.
If someone is freshly out of the military and wants to start a business, they can reach out to professionals currently in business who have a history of military service and understand that transition of stepping out of the military mindset when moving into a new civilian avenue, said Conover.
“Veterans know veterans”, she said. “They know who else has served and is in the underground. Now we’re trying to shine a spotlight on them, asking them to step up and join us.”
Conover sees numbers rising significantly in the next few years and she hopes the council will attract younger veterans and help them find mentoring, as well as internship and apprenticeship opportunities.
“It’s going to come down to putting an arm around new veterans, asking them what they’re interested in and pointing them to the right track,” said Conover.
The council leadership consists of Juan Gonzalez of the Hunt Companies, Sean Dion of Mr. Electric of Queensbury, Lloyd of Duke Concrete Products, and Nick Caimano.