The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is wrapping up a busy semester of events and programs. We are pleased to report that our students are excited to engage with us in person while we are continuing to offer some virtual options. We are proud to see our enTERPreneurs continuing to thrive, and look forward to the exciting work that will come out of the Terp Startup Accelerator cohort this summer.

Join us in looking back over our spring 2022 semester…

Signature Events & Programs

Dingman Fridays 

This semester, we continued using a hybrid model to deliver Dingman Fridays where the first Friday of each month was held in person at Van Munching Hall and following Fridays were held virtually over Zoom. Each week the Dingman Center hosted a series of experienced entrepreneurs as well as a legal advisor who gave students, alumni, staff and faculty practical and actionable feedback on business ideas. If you’re interested in participating, sign up for the Dingman Fridays newsletter to be notified when we bring back Dingman Fridays in the fall.

Feb. 23 – Being Black in Entrepreneurship Event

To celebrate Black History Month, The Dingman Center partnered with Southern Management Leadership Program to organize our third annual Being Black in Entrepreneurship event via Zoom. Panelists Audrey Awasom ‘18, Founder & CEO at Noble Uprising and André Blackman ‘05, Founder and CEO of Onboard Health, were joined by moderator Sydney Parker ’18, CMO of Aurora Tights as they discussed their contributions and experiences as Black entrepreneurs.

Mar. 15 – Terp Marketplace

This semester, 37 students startups got to test the market by setting up tables in Van Munching Hall and selling their products and services for Terp Marketplace. The turn out was huge as vendors sold an array of products and services like sustainable clothing, delicious treats, custom candles, and more.

Apr. 26 – Pitch Dingman Competition

After two years of being virtual, the Dingman Center held Pitch Dingman Competition 2022 Finals in person at Stamp Grand Ballroom. The event was bigger and better than ever with over 300 in-person and over 500 virtual attendees watching the six student start up finalists pitch to judges Shark Tank style. While all of the finalists did an outstanding job presenting their business and ideas, this year, Edwin Djampa ’22, founder of Omega 3, won the grand prize for the Main Street Track and Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, founder of Vitalize, won the grand prize for the Quattrone Venture Track.

Terp Ladies First Founders Class

Ladies First Founders is the Dingman Center’s signature course for female and non-binary students interested in entrepreneurship. This semester, 13 students worked to build soft skills for overcoming gender biases in entrepreneurship. Unlike previous years, students did not need to have launched a venture, as the focus of the course was on demystifying entrepreneurship.

To learn more about the course and why these students took it read here.

Fearless Founders: New Venture Practicum

New Venture Practicum is another one of the Dingman Center’s signature courses where students experiment with business models, revenue streams and go-to-market strategies. After developing their business throughout the semester, students end the course by pitching for seed funding.

This semester’s cohort included:

1. Build Bigger – Jonathan MacGregor ’22
2. Easy Park – Sarthak Patel ’25
3. Em G Art Design Studio – Emily Garcia ’24 (Studio Art and Art Education)
4. Heart2Starr – Ileana Lozano ’22
5. Odin Electric – Paul Mouring ’22 (Mechanical Engineering)
6. Sequester Carbon Certified – Nathan McMullen ’23
7. Shai Consulting – Shiv Agarwal ’23
8. Stockadoo – Hrithik Bansal ’22 (Computer Science) and Justin Fenn ’22 (Computer Science)
9. Sparza – Ryan Myer ’22 (Finance and Innovation and Entrepreneurship)
10. Treasuremybeaute’ – Treasure Valdez ’23 (Communication)
11. Tribar – Perri Moeller ’22
12. UCleaner – Blake Kuzemchak ’23
13. Undefined Dreamerz – Takiyah Roberts ’25 (Material Science Engineering)
14. Venture – Isaac Lefkovitz ’24 Samai Patel ’24

To learn more about the course and the businesses involved read here.

Founders Forum

Not only will events like the Pitch Dingman Competition–among other Dingman Center programs–benefit your business, but they will provide you with a community of supportive like-minded individuals. Once a month, both current and alumni members of Terp Startup, Pitch Dingman Finalists and Startup Shell participate in Founders Forum. This forum is an opportunity for participants to hone entrepreneurial skills, learn from peers, and catch up with one another. During these meetings, we dive into a new topic related to running a businesses in a roundtable-style, while also making time to socialize.

Terp Startup Accelerator

This is now the program’s eighth consecutive year, and the first time the program will be held live again after two virtual years. Aside from the program’s workshops and roundtable discussions held throughout the summer, each team in the cohort will receive a stipend of up to $5,000 and a dedicated advisor to help them grow their businesses.

1. Arch Dash – Ina Kovacheva ’23 (Computer Science)
2. Bedtime Sports – Josh Doying MBA ’23
3. CryptoKicks – Shiv Agarwal ’23 (Psychology)
4. Em G Art Design Studio – Emily Garcia ’22 (Studio Art & Art Education)
5. EMPIRE 242 – Kang Ewimbi ’23 (Entertainment Industry)
6. JuJu Food Delivery – Weixiang Wang ’22 (Computer Science), Nanxin Luo ’25 (Finance and Information Systems), Zeyang Liu ’22 (Economics), Keying Sun ’23 (Statistics), Liqianrui Yang ’22 (Economics and Management), Zirui Zhou
7. Omega 3 – Edwin Bright Djampa ’22 (Nutritional Food Science)
8. ReGlass – Bennett Greenspun ’24 (Astronomy)
9. Sparza – Ryan Myer ’22 (Finance), Kyle Sznoluch
10. Sustainabli – Alisha Pun ’24 (Economics)
11. TapIn – Rob (Diego) Castro ’24 (Finance), Zach Lefkovitz ’24 (Computer Science), Samai Patel ’25 (Computer Science), Corbin Voorhees ’25 (Aerospace Engineering), Joe Beckman ’25 (Undecided), Matt Gashaw ’25 (Computer Science), Edward Awe ’25 (Finance, Government and Politics), Neil Kundagrami ’24 (Computer Science and Math)
12. UCleaner – Robert Choe PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Blake Kuzemchak PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Erfan Jabari PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Noah Eby PhD ’23 (Bioengineering)

We’re Still #Trending!

The Dingman Center is officially on TikTok

The Dingman Center has stayed #trending this semester with our TikTok account! We have posted four videos advertising Giving Day, Terp Marketplace and Pitch Dingman Competition 2022–with more videos to come in the summer and fall. So far, our videos have almost 3,300 views combined. Be sure to check out our account and give us a follow to get exclusive Dingman Center content.

We hope everyone in the Dingman Center community has a restful and relaxing summer. We can’t wait for all the remarkable entrepreneurship to come in the upcoming school year.

Warmly,
The Dingman Center Team