Lieutenant Patrick Dossett

Patrick joined the Navy at age 18 with no idea what the future held in store for him. Since then, he has been deeply touched by the loss of many of his friends, including his best friend, when a Special Operations helicopter crashed in Afghanistan leaving no survivors.

He attended the funeral of his best friend, along with 14 surviving spouses of others lost in the crash, and was emotionally drained from the experience. But, he also was inspired and eventually grew the Tip of the Spear Foundation, an organization he helped found months earlier which provides assistance to families of fallen Special Operations troops.

Patrick left the Navy in the summer of 2011 after nine years of service, but plans to use his military experience in the future. During a deployment to Kenya, he witnessed families struggling to make lives in slum-like conditions. He was particularly inspired by a woman trying to improve her family’s life by transforming a vacant strip of Kenyan soil into a nursery catering to the gardeners serving embassy residences. His goal is to create a company that provides entrepreneurs who have received microfinancing with business skills in finance, administration, management and leadership.