Events

Dingman Center Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the world’s largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. For one week every November, organizations around the world participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week with events and programs that celebrate entrepreneurship. After a successful GEW 2013, the Dingman Center is back at it, November 17-21, for a week-long celebration of entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Here’s what he have planned for this year.

Monday, November 17

Smith IS Global
All Day, Grand Atrium, Van Munching Hall

Nov. 17-21 is also International Education Week. Wear your “Ask Me About My Global Connections” sticker and share your study abroad experience, research, language, family story, etc. from around the world. Check the Smith kiosk for daily events or stop by Smith’s Office of Global Initiatives for a schedule.

Tuesday, November 18

Global Experience By Design
6-8:30 p.m., 6137 McKeldin Library

Where do entrepreneurial and innovative ideas come from? Using Design Thinking is a great place to start! Come to this hands-on workshop ready to work with a team on the pre-seeded design challenge Global Experience by Design in order to learn about design thinking. Leave ready to apply this process to a problem you are passionate about solving. This event is co-sponsored by the Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneurship Connector Club.

To participate, RSVP at globalbydesign.eventbrite.com

Wednesday, November 19

Silk Road Rediscovered With Prof. Anil Gupta
Noon-1 p.m., 2505 Van Munching Hall

Join the Smith School’s MBA Entrepreneurship Club and Professor Anil Gupta for an intimate conversation about his latest book, The Silk Road Rediscovered, the first book ever to provide a roadmap to understanding corporate linkages between China and India. Over lunch, Professor Gupta will discuss the growing challenges and opportunities to doing business in China and India. Attendees will also learn how leading innovative companies are pioneering the path between these emerging economic giants, followed by a Q&A.

RSVP at ter.ps/EClubNov19

Thursday, November 20

Terp Marketplace
3:30-5:30 p.m., Grand Atrium, Van Munching Hall

Shop the latest products and services from your fellow Terps while helping student entrepreneurs test the market.

Pitch Dingman Competition
6-7:30 p.m., Frank Auditorium, Van Munching Hall

Five student entrepreneurs will pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges for $3,500 in prizes. As the signature event of the week-long celebration, all attendees will receive a free gift sponsored by Route One Apparel
Register at ter.ps/Nov20

Pitch Dingman Competition Judges Panel:

John Gambaccini, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
Ashish Gambhir, founder, newBrandAnalytics
David Quattrone, Chief Technology Officer, Cvent
Kathryn Stewart, Managing Director, Cranbrook Capital

Friday, November 21

Innovation Fridays: Pitch Dingman
11 a.m.-1 p.m., 2518 Van Munching Hall

Have an idea for a business? Entrepreneurs in Residence are available to hear and offer feedback on new business ideas. No appointment needed; just come ready to talk about your business idea and receive actionable next steps.

MBA Venture Capital Investment Competition: Final Round @Smith
1:30-5:00 p.m., Frank Auditorium, Van Munching Hall

Watch MBA teams negotiate term sheets with local startups in this annual mock venture capital competition. Negotiations will take place from 1:30- 4:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony and reception at 5:00 p.m. The winning team will represent UMD at the regional finals, to be held at Georgetown University on January 30, 2015.

For more about the competition, visit vcic.org.

Tagged Anil Gupta, Design Thinking, GEW, global entrepreneurship week, Innovation Fridays, pitch dingman, Pitch Dingman Competition, Terp Marketplace

Sep 18 2014

3 Comments

Fearless Founders

Fearless Founder Brings Taste of the Islands to the DMV

Meet Tenaj Ferguson, Fearless Founder and CEO of Lady Epicure Gourmet.

photo 1-3

While attending the University of Maryland, Tenaj turned her passion for health, nutrition and her Bahamian culture into a thriving business. Today, Lady Epicure Gourmet brings a taste of the Bahama islands to their customers through their all-natural gourmet popsicle line.

We recently caught up with Tenaj to learn more about her journey and her tips for future fearless founders.

Bringing the islands to Maryland. Continue reading →

Tagged Alumni, entrepreneurship, Fearless Founders, food startup, gourmet popsicles, Innovation Fridays, pitch dingman

Nov 25 2013

1 Comment

Uncategorized

Global Entrepreneurship Week Roundup

Global Entrepreneurship Week at the Dingman Center was a huge success! With at least one event every day of the week, we contributed to a global movement of more than 112,000 events with 25 million participants worldwide.

Monday: We kicked off the week with movie night as we screened the documentary “Extreme by Design.” The screening lead to an interesting discussion on using design thinking to create businesses that solve global problems. The same day, the Dingman Center Angels saw three-minute pitches at the Fast Pitch session during TEDCO’s Entrepreneur Expo.
Tuesday: Elana Fine participated in a panel on technology commercialization during Bioscience Day. In the evening, we hosted an Entrepreneurship Connector that brought together students from across campus who are interested in sharing their ideas and passions.
Wednesday: Terp Marketplace was buzzing with more than 20 student vendors testing the market and selling their products.
Thursday: It was standing room only at the Pitch Dingman Competition which drew more than 260 attendees. Timothy Chi, Founder & CEO of WeddingWire delivered an inspiring keynote and lead the judges in choosing the winners. Harrison Baum took home top prize winning $2,000 for SellMyOldTech.com. Sam Feldman took home $1,500 winning both 2nd place and the Audience Choice award.
Friday: We wrapped up the week with a record number of students at Innovation Fridays and six DC startups presenting at Dingman Center Angels Review Day.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Global Entrepreneurship Week! For more photos, go to the Dingman Center Facebook page.

Tagged Bioscience Day, Dingman Center Angels, entrepreneur, Entrepreneur Expo, entrepreneurship, global entrepreneurship week, Innovation Fridays, Pitch Dingman Competition, TEDCO, Terp Marketplace

Sep 12 2013

Dog Days Are Over: Part 2

Always iterate. Pivot when needed. Listen to your customers. At the Dingman Center, we teach these principles every day to students. And, we practice what we preach. In Elana Fine’s latest blog post, she let you know that we spent the summer examining our signature programs to make sure we’re delivering the strongest portfolio of programs, services and products possible. Some programs got a name change, some a curriculum change but all were examined to make sure we’re delivering on our mission to build a remarkable community of entrepreneurs.

Innovation Fridays – For years, the Dingman Center has been dedicated to inspiring Fearless Ideas through our weekly Pitch Dingman sessions. Over the past year, we have been collaborating with several campus groups to transition Pitch Dingman to campus-wide Innovation Fridays sessions. Only the name has changed–the process remains the same. By joining our colleagues we are able to reach more students. Read here for all the details of this expanded commitment to student entrepreneurs. http://ter.ps/39w.

Fearless Founders – As we continue our movement to focus more on the people in our community we’re offering V 2.0 of our EnTERPreneur Academy. A cohort approach to guiding students from idea to launch that leverages tenets of the lean startup methodology, including customer discovery and developing an MVP. The new curriculum focuses more on equipping the founders and more closely resonates with the students we serve.

AdVENTURE Challenge: China – Amazing Race meets Shark Tank this May in Hong Kong and Beijing. A more immersive and impactful China Business Plan Competition where MBA students will earn points visiting startups, multinational corporations and cultural sites. The challenge will culminate with a final competition at Peking University. Students compete for cash prizes alongside peers from Smith, Peking, other Chinese business schools, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. In an expanded effort to teach the students the complexities of global business, they will work on cross-cultural teams to compete in the competition.

Dingman Center Angels – the region’s most active angel network does it again. This year we will set up shop at partner incubators and workspaces like Uber Office, 1776, Acceleprise, Bethesda Green and ETC to increase access for regional companies.

The Pitch – We have developed a new communications vehicle, The Pitch. This email digest is sent bi-weekly on Tuesdays to communicate to our audience the Dingman Center’s breadth of activities and leadership throughout the region.

While it may seem much has changed, our commitment to discovering, equipping, connecting and celebrating entrepreneurs remains the same. If you’re interested in joining our community or participating in any of these programs, send us an email at dingman@rhsmith.umd.edu. To stay connected with the Dingman Center follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

Tagged AdVENTURE Challenge, China, Dingman Center Angels, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, Fearless Founders, Innovation Fridays

Sep 06 2013

Worth Reading 9/6/13

As UMD undergrads started the new semester this week, the Dingman Center saw many old and new students coming to visit. During the summer, we worked diligently to make quite a few changes, one of which is Innovation Fridays, formerly known as Pitch Dingman. The experience is the same, only the name has changed. Students can pitch their ideas and receive feedback from experienced Entrepreneurs in Residence. We are excited to kick off Innovation Fridays today and expect to see more students this year! Now, enjoy this edition of worth reading.

Screen Shot 2013-09-05 at 11.30.21 AM

Few people can claim to be successful entrepreneurs. Far fewer can say they are successful serial entrepreneurs. Take a look at how Serial Entrepreneurs Pursue Multiple Opportunities.
Often times, one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs encounter is creating brand awareness with little capital. Here are the 7 Marketing Tips for Bootstrapped Startups.
With the evolution of web 2.0, doing businesses across international borders is much easier than ever before. Check out some of the Best Destinations to Start Your Startup globally.
There is an old saying that goes ”learning by doing”, but it is equally important to learn before doing. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to learn how to be a leader first. Here is a list of 30 Books To Make You A Better Business Leader. Choose a few, apply theories learned, and make yourself a better leader.
Successful entrepreneurs are good observers. They pay attention to small details and get inspired. Read What Salvador Dali and Jeff Bezos Have in Common and grab some tips from them.

Stay connected with the Dingman Center

Tagged dingman center, entrepreneur, global entrepreneurship week, Innovation Fridays, News, pitch dingman, startups, students, worth reading

Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Tag Archives: Innovation Fridays