Would you (or someone you know) buy customizable fashion jewelry? It’s a question entrepreneur Seble Alemayehu, MBA ’12, hopes to figure out by the end of her eight weeks participating in a new program at the University of Maryland. She and 16 other UMD alumni hoping to launch startups this year are getting the help they need to get their venture off the ground with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship’s Jumpstart program.

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, November 16, 2014, 7:30 a.m. This year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week starts November 17. The annual weeklong event is a celebration of innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. At the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business the focus on global entrepreneurship extends throughout the year. 

This Fall, the Social Entrepreneurship Lab (SE Lab) was piloted at the Robert H. Smith School of Business under the leadership of Professor Christine Beckman and Adjunct Professor Sara Herald. The Lab is an active learning environment where students test hypotheses around the creation of social ventures, and thereby develop a first-hand understanding of how the field works.

Now in its fourth year at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, Social Innovation Fellows (SIF) welcomed a new face of the program this Fall. Professor David Kirsch has taken on the SIF curriculum and breathed a new energy into the program.  “So far, I think SIF is more of an experience than a class.” said Mandy Yard, current SIF Fellow. “I have been able to learn business concepts and apply them to real life, while focusing on how to change the world.”

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business “discovers, equips, connects and celebrates entrepreneurs” through events and opportunities such as Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), which took place the week of Nov. 17, 2014.

Last Sunday, November 23, 2014, a movement of "Jammers" convened at the University of Maryland to build sustainable solutions for our UMD community. The 3rd annual Sustainability Jam united students from diverse backgrounds to create new, real-world ideas that promote and advance Sustainability on campus. Students also collaborated with UMD staff on how to make their ideas a reality at UMD. 

Statistics show that most startups fail – but not because they lack good ideas, products or technology. Most startups fail because they lack enough of the right customers and a clear plan of action. Enter Dingman Jumpstart, a proprietary program designed by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship that helps University of Maryland alumni increase their odds of building successful businesses by learning how to reduce “customer risk” and develop clear action plans.

Kevin Plank, UMD-Hosted Event Welcomes Top Student Entrepreneurs to Apply COLLEGE PARK, Md. and BALTIMORE, Md. – Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Cupid's Cup Business Competition, presented by Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

The 2014 Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps (MSEC) wrapped up this month with an evening symposium for students to share their experiences with program partners, sponsors and prospective students. This past summer, fifteen UMD undergraduates traveled to Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador to support sustainable economic development. The students deeply impacted communities across all three countries by supporting the creation of businesses selling life changing products such as eye glasses, cook stoves and water filtration systems.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is the recipient of the prestigious 2014 NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. The award was presented at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Annual Conference, hosted by the University College London (UCL), Oct. 2-4, 2014.