Global Teams Compete in the Entrepreneurship IB Agility Lab

As part of the #KeepGlobalSmith campaign, the Center for Global Business held the International Business (IB) Agility Lab: Entrepreneurship from April 7-9, 2021. The IB Agility Labs are a series of short, virtual case competitions that allow undergraduate students to learn from global business leaders, collaborate with international peers, and focus on business resilience. In the second of three IB agility labs this spring, about 50 students from four universities competed on mixed multinational teams to develop a monetization and user acquisition strategy for a company in Germany.

Congratulations to Juan Pablo Borda (UDLA), Lidia M Gonzalez (UMD), Muna Hassen (UMD), and Elizabeth Suseck (UMD) for winning the competition. Elizabeth Suseck, class of 2023, said this about her experience, “this program was extremely unique as it allowed me the opportunity to meet, collaborate, and work with students from five different countries. Not only did I learn a lot, but I thoroughly enjoyed being able to build relationships and develop global business skills, especially given the current virtual learning environment.”

Maryland Smith partnered with Legacy Ventures, Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, Singapore Management University, Zhejiang University in China, Bowie State University in Maryland, and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at Maryland Smith to host the entrepreneurship lab. The case was delivered by Migrapreneur, a company based in Germany that provides a platform of resources to support migrant entrepreneurs in their business initiatives.

Migrapreneur informed the 10 teams about their initiative which includes two phases. The first phase, consisting of creating a digital magazine with relevant information for migrant entrepreneurs, will help Migrapreneur identify potential customers, collect data, and form a user base. The second phase will include developing a platform to enable all entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses to better manage their operations in Germany. In support of this initiative, students were asked to come up with a strategy for driving Migrapreneur’s profitability as well as generating ideas for growing its customer base. CGB thanks the judges that oversaw this competition. The formal judging panel included Joseph P. Bailey, associate research professor in decisions, operations and information technologies department & executive director of QUEST honors program, Protiti Dastidar, associate clinical professor and associate area chair in management and organization department, Kevin Tanzola, MBA '08, co-founder of Tanzola International LLC, and Pramod Raheja '91, CEO of Airgility.

The lab is part of the wider #KeepGlobalSmith initiative, highlighting opportunities for students to gain a global mindset in the absence of travel. During these labs, students benefit from exposure to an international company, work on teams with business students around the world, and gain hands-on case experience to build their resumes and CVs. Each lab focuses on a functional area of business and features a live case from a company based outside the U.S. The winning team receives a certificate to honor their achievement. The Supply Chain IB Agility Lab, the sixth and final lab of the series, will take place April 14-16, 2021.

This event was supported in part by a Title VI grant program known as CIBE (Centers for International Business Education) administered by the U.S. Department of Education. 

- By Jordan Heitzner, graduate assistant, Center for Global Business