MBA alum and former Dingman Scholar Matt Fleischer put passion into promise to create a successful beer company Zoey Rawlins, founder of Shop DC and former Dingman Scholar, launched her business by following trends in the marketplace Run by students, The Smith Store offers promotional branded apparel, accessories and gifts The Dingman Center supports entrepreneurs throughout the Washington D.C. Metro Area and beyond The Dingman Center is located at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland

Mentor Program - Overview

From Startup to Success

Overview  ♦  How it Works  ♦  Mentor Bios  ♦  Costs and Procedures

"The people at the Dingman Center have helped us to navigate the start-up process more quickly than we would have on our own, connect with critical resources, and avoid some ‘traps' we otherwise would have fallen into."

- Wick Keating, CEO, Infrasi

The Mentor Program at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is an innovative consulting service that blends together the experience of successful entrepreneurs, acclaimed business school professors, talented MBA students, and the Dingman Center's 20 years of experience in supporting entrepreneurial businesses. Directed to full-time entrepreneurs and established small-medium companies, the mentor program provides support and resources to help companies make the next leap forward.

Program Benefits

The Dingman Mentor Program offers multiple benefits to entrepreneurs and small-medium companies:

  • Access to first-class business expertise;
  • Business consulting services available when you need them, to work on your problem;
  • Professional mentoring to help you identify your problems and provide a solution;
  • Improvements to your business plan; and
  • Coaching on your business presentations to potential customers, financiers and venture capital firms.

Who the Mentors Are

Mentors are experienced professionals with a broad range of skills and technical backgrounds. They all share one attribute in common: real-world business experience. The size and diversity of the mentor corps allow us to tailor our mentor partnerships to the needs, business maturity, and industry of each entrepreneur.

Our mentors have years of cumulative experience in starting and running new businesses . . . and they come from a diversity of industries, as well as from corporate executive ranks and service firms. Our MBA students are ranked among the top-20 in the nation, and are available to propose innovative solutions or work on short-term projects.

Areas of expertise

  • Financial consulting: ROI analysis, Break-even analysis, profitability, funding;
  • Marketing consulting: customer segmentation, pricing, value proposition, advertising;
  • Operations consulting: channels and distribution, suppliers, optimization;
  • Strategy consulting: industry and competitors analysis, SWOT analysis, competitive advantage, defend ability; and
  • Organizational issues, intellectual property protection and international/global expansion.
 

Find out how the Mentor program works.