News
Boeing lends support to The Prince’s entrepreneur program
Dec. 3, 2014, Ottawa - Boeing has announced its support of The Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur, a national program through The Prince’s Charities Canada, that provides transitioning Canadian Forces personnel with the education, financing and mentoring needed to start their own businesses.
December 3, 2014 By Carey Fredericks
The Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur is a made-in-Canada program that combines two of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’s lifelong interests of encouraging entrepreneurship and support for the Canadian Armed Forces. Training opportunities include seven-day business boot camps and one-day ‘Introduction to Entrepreneurship’ workshops happening across Canada. Boeing’s commitment to the program will cover the full costs of the intensive week-long business boot camp for five veterans and underscores the importance of enabling the successful career transition of veterans into the workforce, a key area with which Boeing partners with community organizations around the world
“Boeing is proud to join The Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur in support of our Canadian Armed Forces as they re-enter the civilian world and embark on their next careers,” said Jim Barnes, Boeing business development director, Canada. “Helping these men and women develop the skills needed to start their own business aligns closely with Boeing’s focus on creating positive, lasting change in communities, and is one small way to say ‘thank you’ to those who have served Canada and have given so much.”
The Prince’s Operation Entrepreneur program also has an economic impact in communities. “Since going to a seven-day boot camp, I have been able to increase my revenue by five-hundred percent and am looking to hire more employees in my community,” said recent boot camp graduate Leendert Bolle.
“We are immensely grateful that Boeing has made this contribution today. There have been many powerful success stories over the last three years and 74 businesses have been started as a result of the program. His Royal Highness is committed to supporting the military community, for whom he serves as Colonel-in-Chief to seven different regiments. This program is a way of recognizing the invaluable service that the Canadian Armed Forces deliver by helping them start the next stage of their careers,” said Amanda Sherrington, President and CEO, Prince’s Charities Canada.
