Calling Innovative Small Businesses For Chance To Win $30,000, Meeting With Michael Dell

Dell, NFIB Seek Entries for 2007 Small Business Excellence Award

Round Rock, Texas, January 16, 2007, Dell and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) are looking for innovative companies to compete for the fourth annual Dell/NFIB Small Business Excellence Award.

Prizes include $30,000 in Dell products and services, a lifetime NFIB membership and a day with Dell executives, including Chairman Michael Dell, at the company’s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. In addition, each of the nine finalists will receive a Dell LatitudeTM notebook computer and a one-year membership to NFIB.

Established in 2004, the Dell/NFIB award program honors small businesses that instill the spirit of innovation and apply information technology to help improve customer experience. Entrants must be a small business with 100 or fewer employees. Each must show how it has used technology to drive a significant change or develop a competitive advantage in delivering superior customer value and experience.

For a description of the criteria, rules and regulations, and to get an application, visit www.dell.com/ceaward. Submissions will be accepted online beginning today through March 30, 2007. No purchase or entry fee is required. The winner will be announced in June.

“Winning the award turned our world around,” Megan Duckett, founder and president of Sew What? Inc. and the 2006 award winner, said in her Direct2Dell videolog on Sept. 26. “From the moment I told our staff (we won), there was an instantaneous buzz; an energy and excitement in the team I haven’t seen in years. For the first time ever, I got to sit back and someone else was saying, ‘You’ve done a great job.’ And not only was it an outside source but the NFIB and Dell – a story we are so inspired by. From the announcement, it’s done nothing but get better"

Sew What? is a California theatrical drapery manufacturer and custom sewing service that uses technology to automate its factory and reach customers from New York to Sydney via an optimized Web site. Other previous winners are Dr. Timothy Kriss (2005), a rural Kentucky neurosurgeon who created a mobile medical office using Dell notebooks, and Donald A. Gardner Architects Inc. (2004), a South Carolina design firm using its Web site to sell customized home plans all over the world.

About NFIB

NFIB is the nation’s leading small-business advocacy association, with offices in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals. Founded in 1943 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, NFIB gives small- and independent-business owners a voice in shaping the public policy issues that affect their business. NFIB’s powerful network of grassroots activists send their views directly to state and federal lawmakers through our unique member-only ballot, thus playing a critical role in supporting America’s free enterprise system. NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. More information about NFIB is available online at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any other computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS

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