by Anisah Ingram
It seems like the time flew by, but here we are concluding the fall semester of 2020! As we close out this semester and students head out for winter break, let’s take a look back at all we did these past couple of months.
Every Friday of the semester, we held virtual sessions of Dingman Fridays, where students were able to meet with guest advisors, subject matter experts and Dingman staff to listen to their business ideas and offer feedback. Through this program we engaged 32 unique advisors and were able to host more than 100 student sessions.
On October 22, we held a Ladies First Alumni Panel: Adapting During Times of Uncertainty. Three alumni of the Ladies First Founders cohort reflected on their experiences in the course and talked about the progress they have made on their business ideas. The panel was moderated by Barathi Aravindan, the Dingman Center’s own Venture Intern who is also an alumnae of Ladies First Founders. You can watch the session here.
November brought exciting rankings news. For the sixth straight year, the University of Maryland is ranked in the top ten for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, coming in at No. 6 for undergraduate entrepreneurship education, according to Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review’s annual survey. Read more in Maryland Today here.
In an ever-changing virtual world, things looked a bit different this year but we still celebrated a virtual Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. We hosted our signature program Terp Marketplace, in collaboration with Startup Shell Expo, and welcomed two alumni entrepreneurs to speak on our Ladies First Founders Panel. The panel featured alumni female founders Ngozi Azubike, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of OBAN Corporation, and Lauren Foundos, Founder and CEO of FORTË.
Throughout the academic year, the Dingman Center provides ad-hoc seed funding for University of Maryland startups, called the E-Fund. Recently, we announced the E-Fund Winners of Fall 2020. In total, we were able to provide funding to seven startups and gave out nearly $5,000. The funding ranged from $250-$1,000 and will go towards the type of costs that can be barriers to getting an idea to market.
While the annual Pitch Dingman Competition applications do not launch until January, this fall we introduced new programming through the Pitch Dingman Competition Prep Series. These workshop-type events help prepare students for the Pitch Dingman Competition application process. The series included guest appearances from past winners Hydraze and Aurora Tights; an introduction to understanding and identifying your target market with Maurice Boissiere; and a talk on building a profitable and impactful company with Martin Mayorga, founder and CEO of Mayorga Organics.
Our Founders Forum also continued to meet monthly this semester via the virtual platform, Spacial Chat. Founders who attended these sessions discussed a variety of topics related to running a business. The Dingman Center Angels met virtually in September, October and November with three new investment opportunities resulting for Nest Collaborative, Wellfound Foods and N5 Sensors. We are excited to watch these startups grow next year with their newfound funding!
In addition to the many programs and events held this semester, Business Insider published “The top 10 metro areas where Black and Latinx founders are securing the most funding to build their companies.” The Washington D.C. metro area was listed at number 7 noting investments from the Dingman Center and TEDCO.
As you can see, we had an amazing and busy fall, despite this being a new learning environment for everyone. We hope everyone stays safe and we want to thank our entire community for contributing to such a successful semester!