Jireh Mabamba, senior Marketing and Organizational Management double major, is participating in his first year on the planning committee as conference director. He attended the conference last year as a volunteer and became very interested in planning the next event.
“There was an opening for the position as conference director and no one was signing up for it. I wanted to take on the challenge and push myself,” said Jireh. “Having this position has allowed me to develop my organizational skills and grow as a leader.”
The committee for the entrepreneurship conference is formed every spring and has eight chair positions. Jireh’s responsibility as conference director is make sure that everything falls into place and all the events are executed properly.
“I hope to improve from last year’s performance, even though last year was a great success. I have to continue the tradition and successfully create an atmosphere of entrepreneurship for the students, staff, and community that are attending,” said Jireh.
The goal of the conference is to give students an opportunity to hear from and connect with professionals in a variety of fields. The individuals coming to the conference are able to tell their stories of successes and failures. The conference is free for ANY student from all campuses and high schools in the region. They just need to register.
“We really want students to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from entrepreneurship leaders who will share different perspectives on how to run, start, and grow a business venture successfully,” said Jireh.
Lauren Landry, senior Entrepreneurship major and Management minor, is also a first year committee member as the speaker selection chair. The speakers are chosen because they are successful and have great stories about their journeys in becoming outstanding business individuals.
“This year I tried to find a variety of entrepreneurs that could reach out to students in different fields at UMD,” said Lauren. “It is cool to see who is popular in the community and can help us diversify our event.”
The entrepreneurship conference committee has been organizing and planning the conference since early March and meeting every week to collaborate and set goals for the conference. There is a total of 17 committee members all dedicated to building the conference and making sure everything plays out as anticipated.
“The committee members’ foremost skills have come out in the planning process. Everyone enjoys and appreciates what we’ve created; it’s been a lot of hard work,” said Lauren.
Ben Phanthavong, senior Finance major, has been involved with the entrepreneurship conference for two years. This year he is working as the event management co-chair who is responsible for setting up the logistics of the event, which includes setting up the floor plan for the main event, the layout for the food both during and after the event, and scheduling for the speakers and workshops.
“We hold each other responsible for the tasks we have to accomplish. There are eight chairs on the committee and several members, it’s important that we all show up prepared and are hitting our deadlines,” said Ben.
This year the conference will offer workshops that will give individuals attending the conference the opportunity to engage with the guest speakers one on one. The workshops offered are “How to Start a Business” with Curt Walczak, Business Consultant at the UMD Center for Economic Development and “The Legal Side of Starting a Business” with Roger Reinsch, LSBE Business Law Professor. After the conference, there will be a networking event with the speakers and an opportunity to win raffle prizes at Grandma’s Sports Garden from 5-7 pm.
“The network social will allow people to ask questions and get closer with the guests rather than just seeing them on the stage. It’s great that we were able to add a component to the conference where students can have one on one time with these business professionals,” said Jireh.
For more information and to register for the event, visit the UMD Entrepreneurship Conference website.
Official Sponsors of the Conference
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
Dennis Maki