Dell launches Small Business Excellence Awards in India

Company Brief

New Delhi, March 04, 2009

Dell today announced the launch of its Small Business Excellence Awards in India and called for entries for its 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award in the country. In its sixth year in the United States and second year globally, the award gives small businesses applying technology in innovative ways to better serve customers, a chance to win up to US$50,000 in Dell solutions and a meeting with Dell Chairman and CEO, Michael Dell.

Dell and The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), America’s leading small-business advocacy association, founded the Dell Small Business Excellence Award in 2004. Global award partners include the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), whose mission is to advance entrepreneurship through global knowledge sharing and networking, and Endeavor, a global non-profit organization supporting emerging market entrepreneurs. The program has now been extended to 13 countries, including India, the newest country to participate in the global program. Endeavor India will also partner with Dell for the inaugural awards in India.

Announcing the launch of the awards in India, Ravi Bharadwaj, Head of SMB SBU, Dell India said, “India has a terrific entrepreneurial spirit that we at Dell understand - the successful big and small Indian entrepreneurs have made India the success story it is today. We saluted them with our ‘Take Your Own Path’ campaign; we now look to recognize them for innovation and technology best practices with the. Dell Small Business Excellence Awards. SMBs will play a key role in economic growth especially in these times; Dell remains committed to help them grow with a suite of specific products and simplified IT solutions geared for SMB needs.”

Open to small businesses in India with 100 employees or fewer, entrants must show how their company represents the spirit of innovation in applying IT in its business practices to improve the customer experience. No purchase or entry fee is required. Call for entries start today with the first round of submissions due by May 1st, 2009. Ten national finalists will be announced in mid-June and the 13 national winners will be announced in September 2009. For more details, visit www.dell.co.in/ceaward.

“Endeavor India is thrilled that this announcement coincides with the selection of Endeavor’s next class of entrepreneurs this weekend in Delhi. Endeavor India’s mission is to select and support innovative entrepreneurs that can transform industries and have mass-scale impact. The Dell Excellence Award is a continuation of that idea, to demonstrate that through innovative business practices, entrepreneurs with ambitious place can contribute significantly to their economies,” said Mallika Singh, Director, Endeavor India, Dell’s partner in this initiative.

Dell launched its first SMB brand campaign in India in October 2008 called ‘Take your own path’. The campaign profiles a remarkable list of business achievers from different walks of life – the “real heroes” of business, including well-respected entrepreneurs like the pioneer of India’s business-process outsourcing industry, Raman Roy, Chief Executive Officer of Quatrro, and P Rajendran, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of NIIT. The Small Business Excellence Awards reiterates Dell’s commitment towards the SMB segment in India.

The 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award judging panel will consist of industry experts from Dell, leaders of small businesses as well as academics.

Within the India region:

The country winner will receive US$25,000 in Dell products and services and a day of best-practice sharing with Dell executives, including Michael Dell.

The nine country finalists will receive a Dell business-class notebook.

Chosen from the 13 national winners, the global 2009 Small Business Excellence Award winner will receive:

Up to US$50,000 in technology and services from Dell, global recognition, lifetime membership to the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) and engagement with Endeavor’s network of business leaders and high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets worldwide.

According to the AMI Partners 2009 report, Small and medium businesses in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) will spend $6.5 billion more in 2009 than in 2008. Chinese, Korean, and Indian SMBs make up more than 50% of Asia Pacific spending. IT and telecom spending by India SMBs are expected to chalk up 8.5% higher growth than last year’s spending, making India the fastest growing SMB ICT market in Asia-Pacific 2009.

The 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award are aimed at attracting participants from across the India region and encourage SMBs to accelerate IT innovation and best business practices.

For further information, please contact:

Dell Corporate Communications

Minari Shah

Mobile: 080- 25106228

Email: minari_shah@dell.com

20:20 MEDIA

Simran Singh Sethi

Mobile: 09810815160

Email: simran@2020india.com