Smith Puts Ladies First in Commitment to Entrepreneurship

According to the recently released “Women in the Workplace 2016” study conducted by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey, women remain underrepresented at every level in corporate America, from entry-level to c-suite positions. They are also underrepresented in the entrepreneurial world, launching only 41 percent of new businesses on average in the last two decades, with that number falling. But the Robert H. Smith School of Business is committed to helping boost the numbers of women in business and women creating startups. This week, the Smith School’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship launches Ladies First, a concentrated effort to increase the number of women involved in entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland.

A big push to get more women interested is through social entrepreneurship – starting ventures that have both an earned revenue model and a social mission, and idea that resonates with many women.

“Instead of simply marketing entrepreneurship programs to women, we’re going to help women solve the problems they care about,” says Sara Herald, associate director for social entrepreneurship at the Dingman Center. “In many instance those problems are one facing our society: climate change, hunger, poverty, inequality, and launching social ventures is one way for them to take action on those problems.”

The Ladies First initiative kicked off Oct. 26, 2016, with a dinner and panel discussion with female changemakers sharing their inspiring stories. The more than 80 students and alumni in attendance heard inspiration from Emilie Aires of Bossed Up, Rachna Choudhry of POPVOX, Sara Gallagher of Do Good Institute and Anastasiia Polyakov of Annie’s Children. They talked about the steps to success in entrepreneurship and encouraged the attendees to follow their entrepreneurial passions.

The yearlong initiative will expand and adapt Smith and Dingman Center courses and programs to be inclusive to social entrepreneurs. The center will offer a series of events and a visual campaign to promote what female founders look like at UMD. Additional programs will be offered throughout the year.

“This is not just a two-week event; this is a commitment – it’s something we’re doing for the rest of this school year and beyond that to try and solve this problem,” says Herald. “We want to get this to the top of people’s mind now. There will be other ‘Ladies First’ events in the spring.”

The Dingman Center is also hosting the Ladies First blog series, featuring remarkable female changemakers at University of Maryland: umddingman.wordpress.com.

Upcoming Ladies First events:

Nov. 3, 6 p.m., 1511 VMH– Tech + SocEnt Panel: Technica Week.
Join Sara Herald and a panel of noteworthy entrepreneurs to learn about the intersection of technology and social entrepreneurship in the lead up to Technica, University of Maryland’s all-female hackathon.

Nov. 4, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 2518 VMH – Dingman Fridays, Ladies First edition.
Come to a special Ladies First-themed Dingman Fridays and celebrate women in entrepreneurship.