It’s important for businesses, especially small companies, to share successful strategies. Wisdom and creative strategy can be garnered from listening to other businesses tell their story. However, these days, business advice seems to focus on how businesses and individuals can save money in a down economy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – But, when the story is all about the numbers, the innovative spirit of the entrepreneur is lost.
Today, Dell kicked-off its global call for entries to the 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award in 13 countries. For the award program, Dell and its global partners (International Council for Small Business and Endeavor) look to reward small businesses that apply technology in innovative ways with a chance to win up to $50,000 in Dell solutions, a meeting with Michael Dell and global recognition among other benefits. For more on the announcement, see the release here.
Also, check out these links to the country sites, in case you are interested in entering or sharing with an entrepreneur who might be:
U.S.: www.dell.com/ceaward
Canada: www.dell.ca/ceaward
Mexico: www.dell.com.mx/premiopyme
Brazil: www.dell.com.br/premiodell
U.K.: www.dell.co.uk/ceaward
Germany: www.dell.de/ceaward
France: www.dell.fr/prixdelexellence
Italy: www.dell.it/premioexcellence
Spain: www.dell.es/premiopymes
India: www.dell.co.in/ceaward
China: www.dell.com.cn/sbaward
Australia: www.dell.com.au/sbaward
Japan: www.dell.com.au/sbaward
Last year’s global winner, Heather Gorringe, founder and director of Wiggly Wigglers, was often featured here on the Small Business Blog and shared her story of innovation with other entrepreneurs through social media. Heather’s passion for her business inspired a lot of great conversations throughout the entrepreneurial community (The Global Small Business Blog, bpodr, Mining the Store).
Below is a vlog with the Daniel Houden, CTO of TaskRetail, our 2008 Australia winner. Daniel describes the company and the value of their visit to Dell in November and meeting with Michael Dell.
What’s your innovative small business story? What role does technology play in it? Share it with us. To get started, apply at one of the links listed above.