Giving & Communities

Dell Social Innovation Challenge Overview

Inspiring and equipping social entrepreneurs to better our world
Dell finds true inspiration in young men and women with bold ideas for tackling some of today’s most pressing social needs. We are working to offer these visionaries the resources and community support they need to take action and change the world.

A young man leaves his plans for a career in banking to build an innovative garbage collection system in one of the dirtiest cities in Africa. A brother decides to combat the gender inequality that has demeaned his mother, sister and other women in his Kenyan community by forming a free school to rescue young girls from poverty.

It is young people like this who we seek to inspire and equip through the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, our growing global program for budding student social entrepreneurs.		 Dell Social Innovation Challenge infographic

We partner with the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin to host an annual competition that rewards aspiring social entrepreneurs for developing ideas that can solve environmental and societal problems. The competition includes mentoring from experts, a web-based community for connecting with peers, tools for turning ideas into plans, and for the winners, seed money to help their start-up grow.

Supported by Dell’s giving program, the Dell Social Innovation Challenge holds the potential to become the largest and most prestigious global competition of its kind.

Creating a powerful community for social entrepreneurs

Collaboration is what makes the Dell Social Innovation Challenge different from other competitions and programs for social entrepreneurs. The University of Texas, our partner since 2007, works with more than 100 university partners plus students and professionals from around the globe to build the world’s largest social innovation community.

Students and university representatives from more than 90 countries create profiles at DellChallenge.org to interact with one another, learn new ideas, find new team members or partners and more. Educators turn to our community for curriculum-enriching content and ideas for inspiring students to dream even bigger. Mentors from Dell and other organizations use their profiles to connect with students.

Challenge

Solution

Challenge:Solution:Benefit:
Our world faces pressing social and environmental problems such as limited access to healthcare, education, energy and employment. Addressing these issues requires creative solutions and the resources to implement them.Create a global community of students committed to social entrepreneurship. Equip them with mentoring, a network of peers and resources. Inspire them through an annual competition. Reward the most promising entrepreneurs with recognition, funding and technology.More than 100 student teams receive one-on-one mentoring from Dell team member volunteers to refine their venture plans and presentation skills. Winning projects are funded and innovative ideas come to life.

Our work to strengthen competition benefits

Dell partners with the University of Texas on this program because we share the commitment to think and act locally, and affect globally.

We believe students need more opportunities for experimenting, relevant training, greater public exposure, access to funding and motivation to leverage technology. So, we’re broadening the challenge to involve more students at all levels of idea creation — from those with just an idea to those with a project already in place — and to offer them greater support.

Tapping the power of Dell mentors
As part of Dell’s team member engagement opportunities, Dell encourages team members to leverage their own business skills and work experience to volunteer and help guide Social Innovation Challenge applicants and their submissions. In 2011 alone, Dell and the University of Texas recruited 113 mentors, including 103 Dell volunteers, who were matched with semifinalist teams based on geography, language and areas of interest.

Expanding our reach
Dell and UT’s goal is to involve many more students from around the world — as many as 20,000 per year. This will generate additional ideas with the potential to benefit more people around the world.

Many Dell team members also choose to volunteer as judges. In 2011, 85 Dell employees served as Round One judges, reading entries and providing insightful feedback on whether the students’ idea met our key criteria.

Dell team member and challenge mentor Antoine Boatwright sums up the rewards that many employees realize from serving as mentors.

“You’re helping these people by doing what you do best. In my case, that’s business case development and making a great presentation,” said Antoine, Dell global director of Product Services. Antoine coached participant Daniel Paffenholz, the 2011 grand prize winner, helping refine his business plan and polish his presentation.