Smith Students Engage Alumni and Create Impact through New Consulting Course

Fasika Delessa '18 writes about the Business Consulting for Social Enterprise and Impact Organizations course (498M) at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

‘Terps helping Terps’ - this value is embraced by University of Maryland students from their first days on campus. From cheering on student-athletes, to supporting world-renowned faculty in groundbreaking research, or helping alumni launch new ventures, the University of Maryland is a loyal and supportive community.

These values are not lost on the Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. This semester alumni played a central role in the new undergraduate course, 498M: Business Consulting for Social Enterprise and Impact Organizations. With its first term underway, this course invites students to explore business consulting through client-based engagements with local social enterprises, mission-driven companies and sustainable businesses. Student teams work with clients seeking consulting services for various business problems. This semester 50 percent of the clients in the course are Smith alumni, giving students direct engagement with the founders of social enterprises who were once in their shoes.

Kirsten Craft, who joined CSVC in 2016 to develop, launch and manage experiential learning opportunities, developed 498M to give undergraduate Smith students more hands-on learning opportunities. She now co-leads course with Amy Kincaid, founder and managing director at Change Matters.

One of the 498M teams is working with Salazon Chocolate, a Maryland based maker of organic, fair-trade, salted dark chocolate bars. Founded by Pete Truby, a 2007 Smith School MBA alum who was inspired by his own backpacking adventures and love for chocolate, Salazon is a “traditional company with social intentions,” with two percent of gross proceeds donated to The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Pacific Crest Trail Association and Continental Divide Trail Coalition.

The student consultants working with Salazon Chocolate team are working to address strategic critical marketing questions like: Can Salazon Chocolate gain market share by developing and deploying a brand ambassador program on college campuses? Alternatively, would other nontraditional marketing solutions better suited for their brand? Craft has been impressed by the ability of the student consultants to meet the challenges of their clients, stating “the social sector is complex... each organization is trying to solve a problem that is bigger than themselves while dealing with their own unique challenges. But our students are capable of quickly distilling this complexity into a problem they can solve."

Zach Plotkin, a senior aerospace engineering major and general business minor at the Smith School, is a member of the Salazon team. Through the course, Plotkin appreciates being able to learn about how the world of business really works outside the classroom. “It is an incredible experience. Some things that occur in the real world  are not easily explained in a classroom, especially within consulting,” said Plotkin. What’s most striking to Plotkin so far has been “the willingness of the clients to trust students with their work.”

For Spencer Schenker, a sophomore finance and supply chain management double major and member of the Salazon team, he has learned “consulting can be a very open-ended endeavor that allows you to be creative and rewards you for that creativity.”  Schenker even noted that since starting the course he is now considering consulting in his post-graduation plans. Lee Lovett, a senior psychology major on the Salazon team, said his experience has definitely made him excited about the social sector, and that ultimately, he now knows that he wants to “work for a company that has an exemplary mission.”

With the course nearing the end of its first term, Craft reiterated why experiential courses are important not only in Smith, but at the university at large, saying these courses “give students real opportunity to create real impact...not only is this great for their resumes, it is also great for the community.”

Supporting alumni engagement in the years to come will become increasingly important as more Terps go on to lead the way in social enterprise and corporate social responsibility, continuously creating new ways to solve difficult challenges. 498M: Business Consulting for Social Enterprise and Impact Organizations is one exemplary way to do just that. Talk about terps helping terps.

About the Center for Social Value Creation

The Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) believes business can and should be a driving force for economic, social and environmental prosperity. CSVC works to achieve this vision by engaging, educating, and empowering Smith students to employ principles for better that serve not just the bottom line, but also the world. CSVC offers courses, special events, and co-curricular programming – like the Change the World Nonprofit Consulting program and the Social Enterprise Symposium – that help Smith students gain exposure to the trends and skills necessary to be business leaders of the 21st century.