Company Updates

Michael Dell Unveiled His Mission for Entrepreneurs at UN Week

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It was an action-packed week in New York City as Dell leaders attended UN Week which combined the General Assembly, Social Good Summit and the Climate Summit.

They had the opportunity to participate in several of the events, driving a global agenda around entrepreneurship, job creation and sustainability, encouraging individuals and organizations to stand up and get involved, all the while showing how technology is a great enabler for the change we need to see in the world.

Michael Dell on stage at the UN Foundation Social Good Summit 2014

On Monday, Michael Dell outlined his agenda for enabling global entrepreneurship to thrive, following his appointment as the UN’s Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship, in a conversation with Fast Company editor, Bob Safian, at the opening keynote at the Social Good Summit. His mission? To pave the way for the next billion jobs worldwide by advocating for the number one creator of new jobs: entrepreneurs. To do so, he is aiming to ensure that job creation – Goal 8 on the list of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under consideration by the UN – is among the top world priorities to be voted and agreed upon by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2015.

"We are still in the early ages of impact on energy, the environment, all of the big, unsolved mysteries of science," Dell was quoted as saying by Lane Anderson of the Deseret News. He noted that these are all "computational problems" that processing and other improvements in tech will help tackle, and will come at a lower cost. "We will knock off these problems at a faster rate," said Dell. "It's enormously exciting."

Watch the full video of their discussion, then read about Michael’s experience in his own words in his latest post on LinkedIn.

Michael Cote, Vice President and General Manager of Dell Secureworks, also sat down with leaders from the Global Entrepreneurs Council, Caterpillar, Blue State Digital and more, to discuss the role of corporations in global entrepreneurship with a room of Social Good Summit Fellows. He talked about why Dell has made entrepreneurship a core mission and how programs like Dell for Entrepreneurs, Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network and Dell Ventures are helping to bridge the gap to support entrepreneurs as they build sustainable, growing businesses. As an entrepreneur himself, who led Secureworks through an acquisition by Dell in February of 2011, he shared some of his best practices for success, and blogged about his experience earlier this week.

Finally, on Tuesday, Dell and The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) signed an agreement to work collaboratively on identifying and implementing a sustainable model for e-waste management for developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The aim of this agreement is to create awareness, build capacity, and engage in knowledge sharing and policy advocacy with regard to sustainable e-waste management. It will support the creation of an operational and economically viable collection network, and dismantling and recycling facilities, to process e-waste in developing countries in a safe and environmentally sound way. And, it supports the development of local recycling infrastructure, contributing to the industrial development of these countries and creating sustainable, green economies.

Pictured left to right: LI Yong, Director General of UNIDO; David Lear, Executive Director, Sustainability at Dell; Jean Cox-Kearns, EMEA Takeback Director

Together, these developments demonstrate Dell’s unwavering commitment to enabling human potential; and to promoting sustainable practices that positively impact the planet and all people.

As our 2020 Legacy of Good Plan spells out, we are "all in."  Follow @Dell4Good on Twitter or the hashtag #LegacyofGood to join with us.

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.