Covid 19

The Center for Global Business presented the third installment in an ongoing series of webinars by the MAPIT Alliance, “You Can’t Travel, But Your Products Can: Shipping Logistics During a Pandemic.” Building on the previous webinars focused on website globalization and digital marketing strategies, the third webinar was designed to inform companies of the challenges experienced with exporting due to COVID-19 disruptions and how to overcome them.

Delicately balancing data privacy and public health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic have created roadblocks for accurate contact tracing around the world. But two recent Maryland Smith graduates are hoping to be part of the solution.

When tasked with a project on leveraging big data, master’s students Laura Klett, MFin ’20, and Gabriel Castro, MFin ’20, realized they shared a mutual interest in improving current contact tracing methods. They teamed up to find a way to positively impact their local communities.

Even amid a global pandemic, Evan Lutz’s business is booming. The 2014 Maryland Smith grad’s Baltimore-based Hungry Harvest delivers produce that would have been wasted to customers’ homes – a service that’s more attractive than ever with stay-at-home orders in place.

As Busboys and Poets founder Andy Shallal, MBA ’19, fixed a shattered window from a break-in at his restaurant chain’s Anacostia location, he found an opportunity to turn his misfortune into inspiration.

After staring at the black piece of plywood that now occupied his window space, Shallal picked up his paintbrushes and went to work. The result: “Busboys [heart] Anacostia.”

“Everyone is Online: Reaching your Global Customer Through Digital Marketing” was the second webinar in an ongoing series from the Maryland Partners in International Trade (MAPIT), Alliance, a partnership of the Maryland Smith Center for Global Business, Maryland-D.C. District Export Council, the Office of International Investment and Trade at the Maryland Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Baltimore.

Survey by Alums’ Veterinary Tech Firm Finds Owners Are Feeling the Love

Longer walks. More lap cuddles. And more chewed-up tennis balls. Pets are gleaning a few perks from the pandemic quarantine—and so are their owners, according to a recent survey from a veterinary tech company run by two Terps.

Ha Le, a second-year MBA student at Maryland Smith, writes about the Center for Global Business Annual Forum.

Maryland is under stay-at-home orders, but members of the Maryland Smith community still are finding ways to reach out, while practicing social distancing.

They’re extending a virtual hand to UMD students, schoolchildren in neighborhoods, and medical professionals who are caring for COVID-19 patients.

Smith Alum’s Maryland-centric Retail Company Wears New Role Supporting Healthcare Workers

Gov. Larry Hogan approached the podium for a press conference last week with a bold new accessory for these times: a red surgical-style mask bearing the message “Maryland Strong.”

It began as an individual effort to donate masks to a few classmates and professors in China. From there, the idea began to grow.

Maryland Smith alum Luhan Tang, MBA ’19, expanded the initiative into the UMD4Masks Campaign, wanting to help address the shortage of face masks faced by frontline medical workers as they worked to treat patients and contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.