Tag Archives: sustainability

Jul 26 2018
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Fearless Founders, Hatch, student entrepreneur, Terp Startup

Terp Startup Verdant Innovatives Uses Patented Technology to Create Small Scale Wind Turbines

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the ten student startups who are participating in the Terp Startup summer accelerator phase of our Fearless Founders program. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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verdant-01Verdant Innovatives

Founder & CEO: Anjik Ghosh ’18, Biology major, Business minor

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Ghosh: Verdant Innovatives uses patented technology to provide wind energy for individual homeowners in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) metropolitan area, as well as local companies and larger organizations. In addition to the commercial market, Verdant Innovatives will partner with aid organizations to provide power to impoverished and disaster areas around the world.

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Jul 17 2018
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Fearless Founders, student entrepreneur, Terp Startup

Terp Startup Solr Tech Designs Solar-Powered Umbrellas to Charge Phones

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the ten student startups who are participating in the Terp Startup summer accelerator phase of our Fearless Founders program. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

SolrTech-19Jun18-43

Solr tech.pngSolr Tech

Co-founder and President: Alexei Onufrak ’20, Environmental Science & Technology major

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Onufrak: Solr Tech provides real estate businesses with a cost effective, hassle-free solution to customer retention through a solar product retrofittable to any patio umbrella. With the Solr Umbrella, we bring an outdoor power solution, while avoiding high infrastructure costs. Whether it be cafe’s, hotels, resorts, universities or amusement parks, people’s need to charge their mobile devices dictates occupancy. Solr Tech aims to provide unique power solutions outdoors.

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Jun 28 2018
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Fearless Founders, Hatch, student entrepreneur, Terp Startup

Terp Startup Citizens of Earth Wants to Help You Grow an Edible Garden

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the ten student startups who are participating in the Terp Startup summer accelerator phase of our Fearless Founders program. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

CitizensofEarth1

Citizens of Earth -logo-01Citizens of Earth

Founder and CEO: Michael Sheehan ’18, Business Management major with a specialization in Entrepreneurship

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Sheehan: Citizens of Earth has founded a mission to find solutions for sustainable living. Research has proven that our single largest use of land, water and fossil fuels comes from the production, distribution and processing of food. This is a major concern for social and environmental sustainability. As an organization, we provide a solution to improve food sustainability by increasing local and natural food production. Local and naturally grown food reduces waste and pollution associated with industrial food production. We offer a service to install and maintain edible gardens and landscapes. The purpose of our business model is to provide a chemical-free, eco-friendly, and high-quality food supply to homes and community centers. If every home produced seasonal fruit and vegetables we would all begin to live a healthier, happier and more harmonious lifestyle.

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Sep 28 2016
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social entrepreneurship, startup

The Rise of Social Enterprise: A Review of “Not Business As Usual”

by: Abraham Sidibe

This past week, the Dingman Center partnered with the Center for Social Value Creation to host a movie screening of “Not Business As Usual”, an informative documentary created by Institute B in 2014 about the transformation of the business world from capitalist to conscious capitalist.  The movie told the stories of several social entrepreneurs who are bringing humanity back into business. Institute B is an entrepreneur accelerator for businesses that put profit and societal value on equal footing as profits. They develop entrepreneurs by providing education, consulting and funding. They are also the same people who helped shape the business cultures of Starbucks, IKEA, and lululemon.

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Miss the screening? Watch the full film here.

The film is an incredible resource for those who want to fix a social problem through business because it documents the history of social business and shares the stories of social entrepreneurs who are working to be a force for positive social and environmental change. One interesting thing I learned from this movie is that sustainability metrics continuously evolve. There is always a way to be more sustainable and have lower impact products, starting with the supply chain. Although there is also no way to have entirely zero impact when producing products, there are ways to minimize those negative effects.

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