How a blind Vetrepreneur is making the world more accessible for people with disabilities

Disclaimer: The sharing of any non-VA information does not constitute an endorsement of products and services on the part of VA.

Illinois Army National Guard Veteran and former tank mechanic Zuby Onwuta has dedicated his post-military career to improving access and opportunities for people with disabilities.

Onwuta, a native of Nigeria, joined the Army to serve his adopted homeland and help fund medical school before blindness cut his enlistment short. The Harvard-MIT trained inventor went on to develop and patent a brain-controlled blind assistive technology.

As an innovator and entrepreneur who served in uniform, Onwuta received support through DAV Patriot Boot Camp, an entrepreneurship program for the military and Veteran community. Founded in 2012, DAV Patriot Boot Camp connects transitioning service members, Veterans and military spouses with invaluable start-up education, world-class mentorship and a supportive community to help them succeed as founders.

Applications for the next DAV Patriot Boot Camp, to be held May 14-16 near Cincinnati, Ohio, can be found at patriotbootcamp.org. There are a limited number of seats. Interested participants are encouraged to apply early. Accepted applicants will also get the chance to participate in a pitch competition with $10,000 in no-obligation funding up for grabs.

Read the below Q&A with Onwuta to learn more about Think and Zoom, his patented, hands-free solution that uses a person’s brainwaves to allow individuals with blindness or low vision to zoom in or turn text to audio. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

What problem does Think and Zoom help solve? 

My goal was to be a medical doctor. I came to America with just $200 in a duffel bag, but I was stubborn. And I did start pre-med and I did join the military. But within less than two years of serving, I became legally blind from Stargardt (a rare genetic eye disease). So, of course, that got me an exit from the military and I had to abandon my medical studies.

And then come to find out that I’m not alone. There are (approximately) 300 million of us around the world (who are visually impaired or blind). So, it’s not just for me to solve my own personal problem that has been driving me, but to share the solution with 300 million people all around the world who deal with a 90% illiteracy rate and a 70% average unemployment rate.

If we remove those barriers, those challenges, folks become meaningful contributors to society.

How did military service prepare you to succeed as an entrepreneur? 

When you talk about discipline, when you talk about commitment, resilience—these are things that are ingrained in you if you ever put on the uniform. When it comes to entrepreneurship, any entrepreneur will tell you that they have to rely on those things to get through. There are always bumps on the road, you never know what’s around the corner. … And so, I believe that Veterans have already been trained in those hard things, those attributes that can help them get through (as entrepreneurs).

How did DAV Patriot Boot Camp help you as an entrepreneur?

DAV Patriot Boot Camp was a great opportunity to connect with Veteran entrepreneurs, and some of them are lifelong connections of mine. But (it was) also an opportunity to keep deepening my entrepreneurial skills.

I learned so much about the inner workings of how patents are reviewed, and how long it typically takes, and how to contact the reviewers and how to engage them. These were things I never knew before. And being that I was working in a space that was mostly technology, that information was really very valuable to me at that time.